Crusading in The West Indies 



Crusading in The West Indies 




By 
WCF. JORDAN 

Secretary Upper Andes Agency of the 
American Bible Society 



ILLUSTRATED 

With Introduction by 
W. I. HAVEN, D. D. 




New York Chicago 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

London and Edinburgh 



Copyright, 1922, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 



r o\ 



.J 



32 



Printed in the United States of America 






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FEB 19 '23 

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Introduction 

William I. Haven, D. D., LL.D. 

General Secretary American Bible Society. 

THE glory of the American Bible Society 
as that of all Mission Boards is due not 
only to the noble impulses arising in the 
hearts of earnest believers who consecrate their 
time and gifts in the homeland, but even more to 
those loyal spirits who are moved to give them- 
selves to daily and yearly service in the harvest 
fields both at home and abroad. Apostolic honours 
belong not to those who govern but to those who 
go if the content of the term "Apostle " is to have 
its significant application. Whoever is " in jour- 
neyings often, in perils of waters ... in perils 
in the city, in perils in the wilderness ... in 
weariness and painfulness," is the true apostle if 
his labour is in the name of the Master. 

I am greatly privileged in being allowed to in- 
troduce to the general reader this volume record- 
ing surely apostolic labours. Rev. W. F. Jordan, 
a Canadian, but for some years a naturalized citi- 
zen of the United States, at one time briefly in 
India in missionary service, was led to give himself 
to the primary missionary task of circulating the 
Scriptures among the people of the near-by West 
Indian Islands, and step by step he has been led to 
undertake superintendence of this work of Bible 
distribution throughout all of what is commonly 

5 



6 INTRODUCTION 

called Latin America with the exception of Chile, 
the Argentine and Brazil. For fourteen years he 
has travelled incessantly throughout these Repub- 
lics, the next-door neighbours of the American 
Republic. He knows their life. He knows their 
spirit. He knows their needs as few men. He 
has discovered as one of the great bishops of India 
discovered in a home visit, that the work among 
these peoples is very similar to that in the great 
mission fields of Southern Asia. 

At this hour when the Christian Church in 
America is feeling itself debtor to these Southern 
Republics, this volume of Mr. Jordan's is particu- 
larly timely. It graphically portrays the beautiful 
tropical scenery, the degradation of the poor, the 
luxury and comfort of the rich, the courtesy and 
kindliness of all the people, the hopefulness of 
service with a world of detail not surpassed by the 
famous author of " Vagabonding Down the 
Andes." Mrs. Jordan, a woman of training, de- 
voted to her husband's work, has shared with him 
not only many of these journeys and deprivations 
which are harder for the mother and children often 
than for the traveller, but has made them possible 
by caring for the home and bearing the loneliness 
of the months of her husband's absence. While her 
pen has not been busy in this volume her observa- 
tions and her reflections are a part of the story. 

We cordially commend this most interesting 
story of " Crusading in the West Indies." 



Contents 



Foreword 13 

Closer relationships with Latin America desirable 
— Sympathetic understanding important — Cour- 
tesy of the people — Field for good literature — 
Some causes of difference in progress — Our duty 
to take them the Book — American Bible Society 
— Personal appreciation. 

I Cuba 21 

First call at Bible House, New York — Voyage to 
Cuba — Arrival — Havana ; landing ; coaches ; 
streets; display of wealth — Impressions of 
gaiety — Open air life — Some customs ; courtship 
— Business establishments Spanish ; office hold- 
ers, Cuban — White building stone — Clubs — 
Pleasure-loving people. 

II CUBA (Continued} .... 32 

Duties of Agency Secretary— Trip to Santa Clara 
— Confusion at railroad station — Missionaries 
and cheap transportation — Royal palm —Other 
palms — Cuban breakfast ; bread ; coffee — Other 
meals ; soup ; meats; rice dishes ; desserts ; table 
napkins — Lively experience at country inn — 
Beds — Santa Clara convention — Pronunciation 
of Spanish in America — Return to Havana ; de- 
railment. 

III. CUBA (Continued) .... 48 

Letters of welcome — Spanish etiquette — Country 
houses — Furnishings — Causes of poverty of 
laborer — Cock-fighting — Lottery — Necessities 
of existence few — Housekeeping problems ; 
food; servants; vermin — Laundry — Foodstuffs 
imported — Landscapes — Sunsets — Heavens — 
People — Appreciation. 

7 



8 CONTENTS 

IV. CUBA {Concluded) 61 

Pioneer work of colporter — Beginning of work 
and organization of church in Esperanza, Cuba 
— Family influenced by the Bible — Tact of 
colporters — Talavera — Enthusiasm of Sr. Pum- 
pido — Mr. Cole's success and language difficulty 
— American lack of thoroughness with language 
— Some results of Bible distribution ; Munoz ; 
Reyes; woman from Puerto Padre — Need of 
Christian literature. 

V. Haiti 77 

Situation ; climate ; flora — History — Retrogression 
— Ignorance of Bible — Trip to Port-au-Prince — 
Landing — Condition of city — Voodooism — Sor- 
cerers — Belief in ghosts — Haitian patois — Ar- 
rival at Methodist parsonage — Officials' method 
of collecting salary — Securing a passport — A. B. 
S. meeting poverty-stricken condition — Pleasant 
memories. 

VI. HAITI {Continued) .... 99 

Haitian soldiery — Recruiting for army — Treatment 
of prisoners — Despotic government — Haitian 
character — Converts ; happy ; freed from the 
power of evil— Church doors from sacred tree 
— Seeming unreality of conditions — Open air 
market gatherings — Thomazeau — Blue denim — 
Beginning of work in Jeremie — Jacmel — Con- 
version of P. N. Lherisson. 

VII. HAITI (Continued) . . . .113 

Church at Jacmel ; schools — Dr. Gousse — Visit to 
out-stations — Call at deacon's home — Morning 
start — Counting congregation — Journey down 
mountains — Rome's attitude towards marriage 
— Its results in marital relations in Haiti — Atti- 
tude of church in Jacmel towards legal marriage. 

VIII. HAITI (Concluded) . . . .123 

Some social customs — Night at Deslandes — Des- 
potic militarism — First visit to Leogane — 
Drinking water supply from cocoanuts — Episco- 
palian work in Leogane — Near, needy, and 
neglected — Hospitals. 



CONTENTS 9 

IX. Santo Domingo . . . .137 

More uniformity in Spanish language in America 
than in the home land — Oldest Spanish colony 
in the New World — Rough landing — Plans up- 
set by tropical storm — Some customs — Domini- 
cans courteous, more reverential than Cubans — 
Workers kindly received — Material develop- 
ment near — Unique mission enterprise. 

X. Porto Rico 146 

First visit to Porto Rico — New York City logical 
centre from which to direct work in West Indies 
— Encouraging progress of Mission work — 
House-to-house canvass of whole Island suggested 
— Impressions of Porto Rico — Houses — Sanita- 
tion — Task of American government — House- 
keeping ; servant problem — Jane — Gumersinda 
— Washerwoman — Truth superseded by courtesy. 

XI. Porto Rico (Concluded) . . 160 

Spirit of cooperation— Hospitals— Student workers 
— Bible Sunday — Incidents; New York trip; 
father and son; gentleman in Ponce — Porto 
Rican workers sent to Dominican Republic — 
Christian literature. 

XII. The French Islands . . .170 

Situation — Call for Bibles— St. Thomas — Basse- 
terre — Beauty — Prosperous appearance — 
Women ; love of finery — Experience in market 
— Illiteracy rare — Meeting native Christians — 
Journey to Pointe-a-Pitre — Selling books on boat 
— In Pointe-a-Pitre — Sale to Sorceress. 

XIII. The French Islands {Concluded) 182 

A trip to La Souffriere — Stay at a convent — Pere 
Duss — Ascent of volcano — Return to convent — 
Exhortation of priest — Comparison of Guade- 
loupe and Haiti — Results of report of first visit ; 
in Porto Rico ; in New York — Messrs. Germain 
and Ruga — Appeal to Mission Boards. 

XIV. Observations . . . .193 

Importance of Spanish language — Suggestions to 
beginners — West Indies; climate; necessary 
precautions — Some interesting fauna — Oppor- 
tunity for service. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Frontispiece 

The Late Dr. Milton Greene and the 

Writer on Road to Esperanza. Dr. 

Greene Occupies Rear Seat. The 

Author has Removed His Hat 

Opposite Page 

Entrance to Havana Harbour. Daily Boat 
Leaving for Key West, Florida, Carry- 
ing Author's Mother Home after Visit 24 

Cuban Village House under Construction. 

Fishermen's Homes, Esperanza, Cuba . 50 

Haitian Soldiers on the March. Corner of 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Market Square 100 

Market in Thomazeau ; Girl Selling Grass 

Mat Used as Bed 104 

First Colporters of American Bible Society 
in Haiti; Their Pastor, Rev. A. F. P. 
turnbull, and author standing . . 1 10 

Porto Rican Home in Suburbs of Ponce. 

Porto Rican Homes in Cayey, P. R. . 150 

Bishop Burt and Daughter with Rev. Man- 
uel Andujar Crossing the Mountains 
of Porto Rico in Bible Society's Auto. 
Author is at the Wheel .... 162 



II 



Foreword 

THE wanderings of the writer for the last 
twelve years have been in countries so 
near to our own land and so intimately 
connected with it in the destinies of the future that 
they are beginning to occupy, and deservedly so, 
an increased place in the interest of our statesmen, 
as well as business men, and philanthropists. We 
wish they might occupy a larger place in the think- 
ing of the public generally, especially of that public 
represented by the membership of our churches 
and whose benevolent impulses find expression in 
the activities of the various Mission Boards. 

Latin America has much that we need; nay, 
much that, under the exigencies of the present 
condition of civilization, we feel we must have. 
Let us, for a moment, ask ourselves what we would 
do without the sugar of Cuba and Porto Rico, the 
rubber of Mexico and South America, the fiber of 
Yucatan, the bananas from the countries whose 
shores are washed by the Caribbean, the coffee that 
we receive from nearly all of Latin America, the 
cocoa from which our delicious chocolate is made ; 
to say nothing of the cocoanuts, ivory nuts, hides, 
petroleum, gold, silver, and platinum that come to 
our shores from these countries; as well as the 
multitude of other products that enter into our 

13 



14 FOEEWOED 

manufactures and commerce ; and we shall realize 
that we are not independent of them, nor is it desir- 
able that we should be even if it were possible. 

On the other hand we possess many things that 
Latin America must have, mostly manufactured 
articles. Not only are they buying from us such 
elementary necessities as shoes, cotton cloth, and 
canned goods; but railroad equipment, mining, 
manufacturing, and farm machinery, automo- 
biles, typewriters, photographic supplies, com- 
puting scales, adding machines, and all other 
modern office equipment. All of these articles of 
commerce they will purchase hereafter in con- 
stantly increasing quantities. Germany worked 
hard for this trade and by a system of favoring 
the exporter at the expense of the home buyer, by 
the subsidizing of steamship lines, etc., made it- 
self a large factor in Latin American trade. 
With the practical elimination of German com- 
petition during the war all of these countries 
looked towards cultivating more intimate trade re- 
lations with the country that some of their writers 
have termed the " Colossus of the North," imply- 
ing thereby the power, at least, if not the will to 
oppress and crush. Some are beginning to under- 
stand that we are not so disposed. All thinking 
people see that more intimate trade relations are 
inevitable and most recognize their desirability. 

How important that we should have a sympa- 
thetic understanding of the countries with whom 



FOEEWOED 15 

we are not only bound to have an increased ex- 
change of commercial products; but that are go- 
ing to call for machinists, miners, agriculturalists, 
and lumbermen to help develop their vast material 
resources; for bankers and insurance men, physi- 
cians, trained nurses, sanitary engineers, as well as 
for religious, educational and social workers. 

Hitherto, I have spoken only of the material side 
of the need and desirability of the inter-relation- 
ship. From the intellectual and spiritual stand- 
point a great deal might be said regarding the les- 
sons which each might learn from the other. 
While we are inclined to be abrupt, even to the 
border of rudeness, in our dealings with our fel- 
lows, the Spanish American is always polite and 
considerate in all the relationships of social and 
business life. He does not sit down in a room 
where there are others, or at a hotel table, without 
recognizing by bow and word those who may be 
there before him. When he leaves, it is: "With 
your permission," and a word of good-will for 
those who remain; though all may be perfect 
strangers. 

" I never saw anything like it," said an English- 
man to me a short time ago, who was visiting 
Colombia for the first time, " the gentlemanliness 
of the peon (common working class). If I were 
visiting any large city in Spain and went about 
among them as I have here I would be followed 
by a mob of curious children, staring, laughing at 



16 FOEEWOED 

me and making unpleasant remarks. Here I am 
taken as a matter of course. No remarks are 
made at my awkwardness, I am treated with every 
consideration by the very poorest and no intimation 
given that a reward or tip is expected for any 
service rendered." He did not cease to express 
his surprise though we were several days together. 
Of course, I was not surprised. I had been ex- 
periencing just this kind of considerate treatment 
for the last twelve years. 

It is a pleasure to testify here to the kind treat- 
ment accorded me everywhere during these years 
of travel among our neighbors. I have yet to 
experience the first unkind act, or hear the first 
unkind word directed to me personally by a Latin 
American ; and I travelled widely in Mexico during 
the critical period from 1914 to 1918. I am aware 
that such has not been the experience of all Ameri- 
cans in Mexico. There have been sad exceptions 
in that country owing to the passions aroused by 
the war spirit ; but even during the time of greatest 
stress inconsiderate treatment of the foreigner by 
the common people was the exception and not the 
rule. 

There is a seeking after the beautiful and artistic 
among their best writers, both in description, and 
form of expression, that we would do well to 
imitate. On the other hand the writings of some 
authors, of the so-called realistic school, are so 
sensuous that one almost blushes to confess having 



FOEEWOED 37 

looked inside the covers' of the books written by 
them. With a few exceptions the sex attraction 
as represented in literature is considered from the 
physical rather than from the intellectual and 
spiritual side. 

There is a great need in all of these countries 
for a healthy, inspiring, character building litera- 
ture. Will they read it? Ask Mrs. Barber of 
Medellin, Colombia. She has a library of the best 
books she could secure in Spanish ; having selected 
them from countries as widely separated as Spain 
and the Philippines, New York and the Argentine, 
which she lends to a class of girls. " There is 
nothing my girls will not read and give a good 
account of, in history, biography, philosophy, or 
religion," she remarked to me. I was struck with 
the fact that one large book consisting of the life 
of John Wesley showed marks of having been read 
and reread, and there is not a Methodist Church 
in Colombia. 

Naturally in the educational and spiritual fields 
there is much that we can give to that part of 
Latin America described here. These countries 
were much longer under the rule of the mother 
country than we. The rule of Spain was much 
more oppressive and tyrannizing than that of Eng- 
land. Not only have they, since their emancipa- 
tion, been torn by internal strife; but they have had 
a proportionately much larger indigenous popula- 
tion to absorb than we; and the percentage of 



18 FOREWORD 

literacy is still much less than with us. These are 
some of the reasons why the wheels of progress 
have turned faster in our part of the world than in 
Latin America. There are many other reasons, 
among which the difference of climate should not 
be overlooked. 

The principal cause of the difference in progress 
is, however, deeper and more fundamental. It is 
religious. The founders of the North American 
Republic, both Protestant and Catholic, were of 
strong religious convictions and came to the for- 
bidding shores of the northern continent seeking, 
not gold or landed wealth, but religious liberty, 
freedom from persecution, and an opportunity to 
establish homes where every man could worship 
God according to his own ideas, without fear of 
molestation. With us, from the first, the Bible has 
been an open book, studied and revered as the 
standard of morals and religion. The founders of 
the Spanish Dominion in America were religious in 
their way. Religious liberty was, however, un- 
known to them. Their religious conquests were 
those of the sword, and the Inquisition was 
brought into play to suppress heresy, and, by force, 
to compel all to confess the same faith. The Bible 
has not been a household book with them. The 
few copies that found their way into Spanish 
America were bulky, many volumed works, filled 
with annotations and sold at a price that put them 
beyond the reach of all but the wealthy. 



FOKEWOKD 19 

To the heirs of the early settlers of the North 
American Continent the promise of our Saviour 
has been literally fulfilled in regard to material 
possessions: " Seek ye first the Kingdom of God 
and His righteousness and all these things shall 
be added unto you." The nation has become rich 
beyond the wildest dreams of our ancestors. In 
our prosperity let us not forget the God who gave 
it, nor the book which has been the source of in- 
spiration and strength to all our greatest men. 
Also remembering that " Where there is no vision 
the people perish/ ' shall we not make it easy for 
our neighbors to secure the Book that has meant 
so much to us? 

The experiences recorded in this book are some 
of the reminiscences of the time spent as a repre- 
sentative of the American Bible Society; whose 
special mission is the translation, publication and 
distribution of the Bible among all people, of what- 
ever language or nationality. The years spent in 
the work have been happy ones, and the service 
has been a privilege. I have learned to love and 
appreciate the peoples to the south of us. I am 
sure this will be the experience of all who approach 
them in the right spirit. 

W. F. J. 

Bible House, 

Cristobal, 
Canal Zone. 



CUBA 

THE writer had followed the suggestions 
made in the concluding chapter of this 
book regarding the study of Spanish. 
Mrs. Jordan had just completed a course at the 
Union Missionary Training Institute in Brooklyn, 
N. Y., where he had been teaching. We were 
ready for work in the foreign field, and expected 
to go to India. During the last year I had taken 
up the reading of Spanish in order to avoid losing 
the time spent on Latin and to double my field of 
possible usefulness and pleasure. 

How the way to India was temporarily closed 
for us belongs to another story. This begins with 
the direction of my steps to the Bible House, Astor 
Place, N. Y., one day in late October or early No- 
vember of 1908. The American Christian Con- 
vention would not be meeting for two years to 
decide the matter of a mission to India. Mean- 
while, I thought possibly the American Bible Soci- 
ety might use me in the Island of Haiti as a dis- 
tributor of Bibles, because of my knowledge of 
French, and my former experience in selling relig- 
ious books during vacations. 

I first met the late Dr. Dwight, who was doubt- 

21 



22 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

ful if the Society would care to take a man who 
wished to give but two years to the work. He, 
however, introduced me to Dr. John Fox, corre- 
sponding secretary, who after asking a few ques- 
tions, invited me to meet the Foreign Agencies' 
Committee that afternoon. Unknown to me they 
were meeting to consider the resignation of the 
representative in the West Indies, the Rev. Pedro 
Reoseco, who wished to be relieved of his duties at 
once. 

When before the Committee, one of the mem- 
bers asked me in Spanish if I could speak the lan- 
guage, I replied very haltingly, in the same lan- 
guage, that I could read and write it, but that I had 
had no practice in speaking it. I was then asked 
if I would be willing to go to Cuba for six months 
and answered in the affirmative. The following 
week the Board approved of my appointment and 
the first steamer found us on the way to Havana 
to take charge of the work of the American Bible 
Society in the West Indies for a period of six 
months. Thus began a relationship that has been 
continued to the present and has taken me through 
Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo, St. Thomas, Guade- 
loupe, Jamaica, Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador, 
Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Co- 
lombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chili, and Bolivia, besides 
to many cities of our own land in the interests of 
Bible distribution among our Spanish and French 
speaking neighbors. 



CUBA 23 

The trip to Cuba, though short, can at times be 
very unpleasant. Especially is it likely to be rough 
off Cape Hatteras. We had a good voyage and 
were not seasick. The first day out was cold and 
raw, the next was warmer, with the sea a little 
rough off the Cape. The only spice to the journey 
was when we struck this bit of rough sea. 

Going to Cuba the boats keep rather close to 
Florida in order to avoid the north-bound Gulf 
current, hence we were in sight of a long stretch 
of the Florida coast during the last day out. On 
the way back to New York from Havana one does 
not see Florida; as, in order to take advantage of 
the current, the boats keep farther out to sea. The 
rate of the current of the Gulf Stream makes a dif- 
ference of about one day in favor of the north- 
bound boats. 

The morning of the fourth day we awoke in 
sight of Cuba, and by the time we had dressed and 
reached the deck, were quite close. We were con- 
siderably surprised to see only grass-covered hills, 
and were impressed by the absence of the profuse 
tropical vegetation that, in our minds, we had al- 
ways associated with the West Indies. The grass- 
covered hills to the east of Havana look like grass- 
covered hills in any other part of the world. Just 
at this point of the coast of Cuba, trees are con- 
spicuous by their absence. 

A little later in the morning we came opposite 
Morro point and waited for the pilot. Here we 



24 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

were in full view of the City of Havana, the capital 
of Cuba, the pearl of the Antilles, once a glittering 
jewel in the crown of Spain, the largest and 
wealthiest city of the West Indies. Evidences of 
its wealth were everywhere manifest. 

In the white stone material of its buildings Ha- 
vana reminds one of Genoa, also in some of its 
antiquated architecture. Here, however, the like- 
ness ends. Instead of towering above the sea, Ha- 
vana rises gently from the water's edge. From 
the deck of the ship as we pass the narrow entrance 
to Havana Bay, perhaps the best protected harbor 
in the world, we see the Malecon, or sea-wall drive- 
way, and get a glimpse of the magnificent Prado, 
a combined walk and driveway, extending from the 
sea-wall to the Plaza-de-Colon in the business sec- 
tion of the city. The centre of this magnificent 
avenue is adorned with grass plots, flowering 
shrubs, fountains and rows of spreading shade 
trees. It runs between buildings proportionately 
rich, substantial and elegant. The setting is mag- 
nificent. Havana the dirty, the garbage-reeking 
Havana, Havana the pest-hole of the old revolu- 
tionary days, has become Havana the beautiful, 
Havana the all-season health resort of the Cuba of 
to-day. 

At the time of our arrival there were no docks ; 
or, at least, the large boats did not tie up to such 
docks as there were, but anchored in the middle of 
the Bay. Passengers went ashore in launches and 




la 



CUBA * 25 

freight was taken off in lighters. Those who han- 
dled this traffic opposed, most strenuously, the 
building of any docks, and were for a long time 
powerful enough to succeed in their opposition. I 
was told by an importer that it cost more to get 
goods from the ship to the docks than the cost of 
the freight from Liverpool to Havana harbor. 

We were fortunate in having Mr. Reoseco with 
us to guide our unfamiliar steps. At this time 
visitors to Cuba required no passports ; and after a 
perfunctory medical examination we were allowed 
to land. The keys to our trunks were given to a 
trusted baggage man, who attended to the customs 
inspection and brought them to our room in the 
hotel later. 

To reach our destination, we took a " coach," 
which is the name with which both Spanish and 
English speaking West Indians have dignified the 
vehicle technically known as a Victoria in other 
parts of the world. The fare is very moderate, ten 
cents for each person to any point in the business 
section of the city. People used to remark that 
cab fare was the only inexpensive thing in Havana. 
The drive was through the old part of the city; so 
we had an early introduction to the narrow streets 
of this antiquated portion of Havana. Many of 
the streets are so narrow that two vehicles can with 
difficulty pass, and the traffic must perforce be but 
one way. On these streets the sidewalks vary in 
width from two feet to six inches, where the curb 



26 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

has literally crowded the sidewalk out ; and on one 
of them, Empedrado, the street-cars run so close 
to the buildings that, if one is met while walking 
on the sidewalk, you are compelled to turn sidewise 
to allow it to pass. As this was a street down 
which many of the cars entering the city from the 
suburbs passed, one was frequently obliged to wait 
flattened against the wall for several cars to go by. 
These conditions, however, prevail only in the 
older part of the city ; the new streets are modern. 

We were struck with the wealth displayed in the 
stores that are crowded into some of these narrow 
streets; jewelry and plate, rich silks and other 
fancy textiles, the most expensive kinds of fine 
groceries, etc. In the glass cases of the stalls of 
the money changers were piles of Spanish and 
French gold and silver coins. Havana can display 
more wealth in small compass than any city that I 
know. 

Havana is a gay city and so impresses one at 
first sight. To one coming from the cooler coun- 
tries of the North, where life has to be taken more 
seriously, Cuba seems to be a care-free, pleasure- 
loving country where the one object of life is to 
get all the enjoyment out of it possible. 

Life even in the large cities is very much in the 
open. This open-air life is secured also in the 
residences, by the many doors, and high windows 
extending to the floor. Both doors and windows 
are open, but protected by iron gratings. Some of 



CUBA 27 

these gratings are composed of fanciful designs. 
The parlor, or living-room, of the homes is thus 
open to view from the street. This room is usually 
paved with a brightly colored mosaic of glazed til- 
ing. The centre table is covered with ornamental 
bric-a-brac. There are also side tables against the 
walls with the same style of ornamentation and 
rocking-chairs in abundance. 

Nowhere do I know of a people so given to rock- 
ing as are the Cubans. Rocking seems to be the 
principal occupation of the Cuban lady, interfered 
with only by lace-making and promenading in the 
Prado. The Cubans are very sociable and in the 
evenings one sees the ladies especially, with their 
visitors, arranged in a circle, facing each other 
around the centre table rocking and visiting until 
late at night. The elite of Havana seldom retire 
until after midnight ; and on their return from the 
theatres will sit and laugh, gossip and joke, ex- 
pending their nervous energies in rocking continu- 
ally until wearied enough to retire. 

In social life the Cuban courtship is a very for- 
mal affair, and is conducted between the gratings 
of the barred street windows. The young man be- 
gins by saluting the young lady as he passes the 
house. If his advances are favorably received he 
stops for a word. As the courtship progresses, 
they will stand for hours at the window, he on the 
sidewalk, and she within, always accompanied by 
some other lady member of the family. While en- 



28 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

gaged thus the young people are said to be " Pe- 
lando el pavo " (picking the turkey). If an en- 
gagement results, he is invited into the sitting-room 
and may there join the rocking party around the 
centre table; but never are the enamoured couple 
left alone. Much to the relief of the young people 
and to the amusement of the passers-by, the chap- 
eron does, however, frequently fall asleep. The 
privilege of being alone is reserved until after the 
wedding. 

The beautiful promenades of the Prado are made 
use of to a certain extent during the week, espe- 
cially by children, nurse girls, aged people and 
loiterers, who occupy the benches. But Sunday is 
the great day for promenading, not only in Cuba 
but pretty generally throughout Latin America. 
Everyone dresses in his or her best. In fact, many 
of the young ladies will not go to the promenade 
unless they have something new to display. Thus 
the avenue becomes a crowded thoroughfare of 
gaily dressed ladies and fastidiously groomed gen- 
tlemen who pass the long hours of the Sunday af- 
ternoon and evening sauntering up and down the 
beautiful walks, down to the sea-wall, around the 
band-stand and back again. 

American and Spanish ideals of personal beauty 
differ. Cuban ladies pride themselves on their 
well-nourished appearance. A young woman has 
a great horror of being slender. A certain amount 
of portliness in the feminine figure is absolutely 



CUBA 29 

necessary to comply with the Cuban idea of beauty. 
Their sedentary life is such as to favor the develop- 
ment of this figure, which is constantly sought 
after. One of the most common advertisements in 
newspapers of Cuba is one offering information to 
women as to how they may best develop the bust. 

The business of Havana is largely in the hands 
of Spaniards. While, with our help, Cuba won 
her political independence from Spain, she has not, 
nor is she ever likely to win her economic inde- 
pendence from the Spanish merchants. Spanish 
business concerns do not employ Cubans in their 
service to any extent. The clerks of the firm are 
generally young Spaniards who come out to serve 
an apprenticeship with the idea of later becoming 
members of the firm. In many cases employees 
lodge in the establishment, and even when they 
lodge elsewhere all eat at a common table, gener- 
ally on the premises. These employees eating to- 
gether at the noon hour at a table supplied by some 
near-by restaurant furnish one of the novel sights 
of Havana. The menial service in these establish- 
ments is usually performed by the industrious Gal- 
legos, from the province of Galicia in Spain. 

Throughout the Island the Cuban is the office- 
holder. One would think that a government posi- 
tion was the sum and substance of what he had 
been fighting to secure. In fact, the principal 
troubles that the Island has had since its inde- 
pendence have been connected with this idea of 



30 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

office-holding. The Negro uprisings fn Santiago 
Province have been the result of a feeling on the 
part of the Negro that injustice was being done 
him. He had fought in the revolutionary ranks 
and thought that he was entitled to hold as many 
offices as those of fairer skin. 

Graft and red tape seemed to be the principal 
characteristics of the Island officialdom. There 
were many employees on the government pay-roll 
of whom rumor had it that they never appeared at 
the office except on pay day. When Mr. Cole was 
in charge of Bible distribution in Cuba in 1914, I 
took down to him a Ford car for use in and around 
Havana. It took three weeks to get through the 
preliminaries necessary to securing a license for 
the automobile and a chauffeur's license for myself. 
The mayor very kindly gave me a special permit, 
however, to use the car immediately upon landing. 
I was not willing to offer any bribes nor pay any- 
one for putting the thing through more quickly for 
me, hence was obliged to return almost daily to the 
municipal offices, run the gamut of the various de- 
partments, and stand for hours before wickets in 
these offices for the period mentioned; though I 
knew of others, who, by greasing the wheels of the 
municipal machinery, had secured their license in 
much less time. 

There is an air of munificence and wealth in the 
white stone and marble that enter so largely into 
the construction of the buildings of Havana that 



CUBA 31 

is not to be seen in any other city in Northern 
Latin America. Cuba possesses a white building 
stone that is soft when quarried and hardens upon 
exposure. While in its soft state it is worked into 
the desired blocks and shapes with saws, axes, 
adzes, in fact, any tool with which soft wood can 
be worked. After hardening sufficiently the blocks 
are fitted into their places. Under certain condi- 
tions the stone is brittle and it is not unusual to see 
where ornamental projections have broken off and 
fallen. Pedestrians in the street below have occa- 
sionally been killed by these falling pieces. 

One of the features of the Island, especially of 
Havana, are the numerous Spanish Clubs patron- 
ized by all classes of people. Some of these clubs 
are magnificently housed and provide practically all 
kinds of amusement. They also give banking 
facilities, insurance and medical service as well. 

Wherever one goes, one cannot get away from 
the impression that in Cuba the chief object of life 
is present pleasure. Business seems to be con- 
ducted to secure money to spend on one's pleasures. 
Government positions are sought as a means of 
gratification of pleasure. The chief products of 
the Island are sugar and tobacco ; and there is such 
a demand for labor in these industries that there 
is practically no unemployment ; hence economic as 
well as climatic conditions seem to have contributed 
to make the Cubans a care-free, pleasure-loving, 
people. 



II 

CUBA (Continued) 

CHRISTIANITY is founded upon the 
message and teachings of the Bible, and 
the circulation of the Book is of primary 
importance in connection with the work of world 
evangelization. For efficiency in this service of 
distribution the Bible Societies have divided the 
world into districts called Agencies, putting the 
work in each field under the direction of an 
Agency Secretary. The Agency Secretary is the 
representative in his field of the churches and in- 
dividuals in the home land, whose instrument the 
Bible Society is, in helping to give the nations the 
Bible. He is notified beforehand each year as to 
how much money he can have for the work in his 
field. His problem is to use the available funds in 
placing the largest possible number of books in 
the hands of people who are likely to read them. 

It has always been the policy of the American 
Bible Society to sell the books at some price, gen- 
erally at or below the cost of production, rather 
than to give them away; reasoning that, if a person 
is willing to pay something to secure a book he is 
much more likely to read it than if he received it 

32 



CUBA 33 

as a gift. Sometimes the Secretary himself ac- 
companies the native colporter or travelling sales- 
man on long trips in territory unoccupied by any 
mission workers, selling books, mostly Gospels, to 
all who can be persuaded to buy. Momentous re- 
sults often follow just this kind of Bible distri- 
bution. Many opportunities also present them- 
selves for the preaching of the Gospel to groups 
as well as individuals. 

Incidentally the Agency Secretary may preach or 
lecture as opportunity offers; but primarily he is 
a Bible distributor. He visits the conferences, 
presbyteries, and various church conventions, in 
lands where missions are established to consult 
with the missionaries and workers regarding plans 
directed towards securing a wider circulation and 
reading of the Book of Books. He is generally 
given a place on the program at such gatherings 
and expected to say something of interest regard- 
ing the work of the Bible Society. Realizing, as 
all evangelical workers do, how fundamental and 
necessary is the work of Bible distribution, they 
make him a welcome visitor at all times. A great 
deal of the Secretary's time must therefore be spent 
in travel, getting acquainted with conditions in his 
field, visiting conferences, and individual churches, 
colporters, and correspondents having stocks of 
books for sale. 

The night of the day following our arrival in 
Havana I left with Mr. Reoseco for the City of 



34 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

Santa Clara, where the annual interdenominational 
conference of Young Peoples' Societies, as well as 
the International Sunday School Association, was 
in session. Mr. Reoseco was on the program for 
an address and it seemed wise for me to attend 
in order to meet the various missionary workers as 
well as our colporter, Mr. Leon Pefia, who was 
working in Santa Clara Province at the time. 

From our rooms in Havana we took a coach to 
the depot. Before reaching the railroad station we 
were met by several boys who ran alongside vying 
with each other for the opportunity to carry our 
hand baggage. It was useless to tell them that 
we needed no help, that our baggage was light 
and we intended to carry it ourselves. They per- 
sisted in their course beside the vehicle. 

On arriving at the station we were obliged to 
fall in line and wait our turn at the ticket window. 
Passenger trains were always crowded in those 
days, and there was a long line in waiting. There 
was very little system about the lining up. While 
the majority waited their turn there was always a 
crowd near the wicket seeking an opportunity to 
push in out of their regular turn, or to reach over 
the iron rail placed in front of the window to keep 
the crowd in single file ; thus securing their tickets 
sooner than they otherwise could have done. The 
reason for this rush was easily understood when 
we were once on board the train. Those who were 
first through the gate were able to secure seats; 



CUBA 35 

the others were not. When one is in for an all- 
night ride, the securing of a seat becomes an im- 
portant matter. We found that in order to avoid 
the rush and get their tickets in good time so as 
to be among those near the gate when it was 
opened, people would pay a peon to push his way 
in thus irregularly and purchase tickets for them. 
Those standing in line, of course, resented this 
intrusion upon their rights and there was great 
confusion, making the group about the window a 
harvest centre for pickpockets. The Havana pick- 
pocket and petty thief is looked upon as among 
the most clever of the species. 

The same confusion prevailed at all official and 
semi-official offices in Havana at this time. Ex- 
press was carried on the railroad but there was no 
system of collecting from shippers. Parcels were 
received at the office of the company only during 
certain hours of the day. Long before the hour 
for opening, parties would line up outside the ex- 
press office door at the railway station in order to 
get their parcel weighed, receipted, and marked; 
then passing to another window pay the charges, 
noted on a slip of paper given the shipper by the 
clerk receiving the goods. Thus hours of time 
were lost. The post-office was no better managed. 
Hours were required to go through the formalities 
necessary to obtain a registered parcel. Inefficiency 
reigned supreme. 

But to return to the present trip. Our tickets 



36 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

purchased, we made our way through the crowded 
gate into the third-class car and were fortunate 
enough to secure a seat, though many were stand- 
ing before the train pulled out of the station. The 
railway system of Cuba carries two classes of pas- 
senger coaches, first and third; second-class being 
considered undemocratic. The missionaries almost 
always travelled third-class, thereby making a sav- 
ing of one-half in the cost of transportation. 

Should missionaries travel first or second-class? 
In other words, should they always avail them- 
selves of the cheapest means of transportation, is 
a question that occasionally comes up for discus- 
sion and is one that can never be dogmatically an- 
swered, so much depends upon the circumstances 
under which travelling is done. When purchasing 
tickets for transportation for myself and family to 
Cuba, I found that the cost of a second-class pas- 
sage was but half that of first-class and asked Dr. 
D wight if we had not better secure a second-class 
ticket, thereby making a saving for the Society. 
His answer was a most decided " No, travelling in 
the Tropics is a severe strain with the best of ac- 
commodations. You will be entering upon your 
duties immediately and there is all the difference 
in the world between arriving feeling fresh, and 
feeling as though you had been drawn through a 
knot-hole; which would be the case if you went 
second-class." In this case his was doubtless wise 
counsel: for, had we taken a second-class passage 



CUBA 37 

to Cuba, I doubt if I should have been in as good 
condition to stand the strain of the next few days. 
From Havana to Santa Clara is a ten hours' run 
and the first-class railway fare was about twelve 
dollars. Another five dollars for Pullman made 
seventeen in all. The third-class fare was about 
six dollars. True, the seats of the third-class car- 
riages are made of wooden slats, the cars are 
crowded at times, and at night especially, un- 
pleasantly filled with tobacco smoke. The saving 
in money, however, is eleven dollars. Moreover, 
as a rule only the wealthy travel first-class. The 
great majority of the pastors and church members 
could not afford to do so, and if the missionary 
travelled in that class he would widen the breach 
between himself and his Cuban coworkers. Hence 
the wisdom of travelling third-class by rail is easily 
seen. 

First impressions should be written at once if 
they are to be faithfully recorded, as they are likely 
to fade with time. Some of the impressions of 
that first Cuban railway trip, however, have in- 
delibly impressed themselves upon my mind. 
Looking out of the window, even in the night, I 
could see that we were passing through cane fields. 
The mango trees were also recognizable from their 
shape and symmetrical form, having been seen in 
India. The royal palm, however, was a new tree, 
and as I saw the white trunks of these beautiful 
trees standing out against the semi-darkness of the 



38 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

night, I supposed they had been whitewashed to 
prevent the ravages of some insect pest, or disease. 
I learned my mistake only in the morning. 

The royal palm is a distinctive feature of the 
landscape in many parts of Cuba. This palm is 
found in irregular groves marking the meander- 
ings of the watercourses, making, with its white 
trunks and domes of bright green, veritable shrines 
of nature. It is planted in long avenues leading to 
the residences of the planters, as well as marking 
boundaries and roads. Also it is scattered every- 
where throughout the fields. At a distance, in 
parts of the province of Matanzas, the tops of 
these trees form a line across the horizon which 
gives the appearance of a thick green roof of a 
magnificent temple supported by beautiful, white 
colonnades. It is the presence of this palm which 
lends to the Yamuri Valley, one of the famous 
views of Cuba, its peculiar beauty. 

Not only does this stately and magnificent tree 
enhance the beauty of the landscape, but it is emi- 
nently useful as well. Its wood is used for build- 
ing, the leaves are harvested for thatching, it bears 
quantities of a berry-like seed that is valuable for 
fattening hogs. The base of the long leaf which 
is thin and nearly encircles the tree is carefully de- 
tached and used for various purposes. It forms 
the walls of huts and the baling of leaf tobacco. 
A few feet of this same base cut off, slit at the 
ends and folded over, forms a trough which is 



CUBA 39 

used as a wash-tub by the women, from one end 
to the other of the Island, as they do their laundry 
at the banks of the streams and rivers. There are 
also many other uses to which various parts of the 
tree are put. Each royal palm is a constant source 
of income to its owner. 

Besides this and the cocoanut palm, there are 
some thirty other species of palm in the Island of 
Cuba alone. One in particular which I do not 
think is found elsewhere, and' which, as far as I 
know, is confined exclusively to a small section of 
the province of Pinar del Rio. This is called lo- 
cally the " pot-bellied " palm. This palm is not at 
all an imposing tree. On the contrary it is delicate 
and somewhat scrubby in appearance. But it is a 
distinguishing feature of the landscape where it is 
found. It derives its name from an immense 
barrel-like expansion of the trunk a few feet above 
the ground. Immediately above this expansion the 
trunk again assumes normal proportions. This 
protuberance probably prevents the slender trunk 
from breaking during the hurricanes that visit the 
Island. 

The night spent on the rough hard bench of the 
third-class coach between Havana and Santa Clara 
was long and tedious. The seats formed of slats 
proved quite uncomfortable. I learned from ex- 
perience that carrying a pillow or cushion helped 
considerably with one's comfort on these trips. 

We arrived at our destination just at daybreak 



40 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

and proceeded immediately to a hotel, run by a 
Spaniard, secured a room and tried to rest a little 
before breakfasting and beginning the work of the 
day. The hotel business, as well as the commerce 
of Cuba, is largely in the hands of Spaniards. In 
fact, there seems to be a pretty general determina- 
tion on their part if not an actual organization to 
keep the Cubans out of business by withholding 
credit and patronage when the Cuban does attempt 
to enter any commercial line. 

The Cuban breakfast consists of coffee and 
bread or rolls. This bread is placed on the table 
in baskets and each guest helps himself according 
to his need. Cuban bread is a long crusty produc- 
tion baked like a roll — more holes than substance. 
To apply the terminology of the small boy's de- 
scription of the doughnut, the loaf is composed of 
a collection of holes with a crust around them. 
Many Americans are very fond of it at first be- 
cause of its crustiness. It lacks in sweetness, how- 
ever, and the American housewife in Cuba, after 
being pleased with it for a short time, generally 
prefers to make her own bread. When we are rec- 
ognized as Americans, knowing our custom of 
eating butter with bread, a rancid, cheesy butter 
imported from Spain is also provided. Better let 
it alone. 

Coffee, as prepared by the Cuban, we consider 
delicious. The berry is roasted much more than 
with us, the process being continued until it is 



CUBA 41 

black instead of brown. To be at its best, coffee 
must be roasted and ground the day it is to be used. 
Then it loses none of its aroma. So much superior 
is coffee the day it is roasted that many families 
living in the tropics prepare it as used. The bever- 
age is made by the dripping process, placing the 
ground coffee in canvas bags and pouring hot water 
through it, thereby securing a black extract. This 
extract is kept hot as is also the milk to be used 
with it. When you take your seat at the table the 
waiter stands at your elbow with a pot in each 
hand. From the one he pours into your cup or 
glass the boiling coffee until you indicate by rais- 
ing the hand that the quantity is sufficient. Then 
from the other he fills the cup with hot milk. 
Whether, or not, the extra roasting destroys in 
part the deleterious effect of the caffeine, I do not 
know. It certainly improves the flavor. While 
a cup of coffee taken at night at home would have 
the effect of keeping me awake, in Cuba it has the 
opposite effect. 

At the hotel table everything except bread and 
sugar is usually served on the European plan. The 
first course at meals, other than breakfast, consists 
of a thick soup or stew. This always contains 
many different ingredients : potatoes, yams, casava, 
green bananas, pieces of corn on the cob, Spanish 
peas, beans, etc. Besides the meat that forms the 
basis of the soup, bits of smoked sausage or ham 
are added. A few olives and onions are generally 



42 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

present, together with anything else that may add 
to its flavor; and finally, and always, garlic — an 
onion-like vegetable which for odor and tainting 
the breath has the onion whipped to a frazzle. No 
one can say that a Cuban soup is not a tasty dish. 
It requires a cultivated taste, however, to pro- 
nounce it delicious. 

After the soup, fish and three or four different 
kinds of meat are served with every meal ; a stew, 
a roast, beefsteak, and a dish of codfish, dried beef, 
or tripe. The meat is always well cooked. I do 
not remember to have been offered a piece of tough 
meat in all of my travels in the Island. One soon 
tires, however, of so much meat in the diet. Lard 
is used so extensively in the cooking that its greasi- 
ness renders much of it distasteful. 

Cubans are very fond of boiled rice served as a 
vegetable with meats and they serve it in a variety 
of dishes. One of the favorites is "paella/' a 
mixture of rice with various meats with a sweet 
red pepper spread over the top. Rice and shrimp, 
rice and codfish, rice and young cuttlefish, also 
appear on the menu. The most popular of such 
mixtures is rice and chicken. In the latter the rice 
is boiled in chicken broth, after which the cooked 
meat of the chicken is cut up and mixed through it. 
Even foreigners like the latter dish; though the 
ever present garlic spoils it for many. The Cuban 
cook never prepares a meat dish of any kind with- 
out a liberal supply of garlic as an ingredient. 



CUBA 43 

Mrs. Jordan used to tell me that I was not fit to 
live with for a week after returning from a trip. 
This was meant as a joke but was sensibly true be- 
cause of the odor of garlic clinging to the breath. 

Most of the pastry served for dessert is too rich 
for our appetites. One of the desserts, however, 
deserves special mention. The guava paste, called 
in England and Jamaica guava cheese, is eaten 
with real cheese and has but to be tasted in order 
to be liked. Small cups of black coffee follow each 
meal except breakfast, at which meal coffee and 
milk are served in the manner before described. 

Now that we are at table, note the disposition of 
the napkin. It is placed under the plate and hangs 
over the edge of the table. Do not think your 
unsophisticated Cuban guest is ill bred, in case he 
wipes his lips and fingers on the edge of the table- 
cloth at the close of the meal. It is not because he 
is not accustomed to the use of the table-napkin; 
but because there, hanging over the edge of the 
table, is where he has been accustomed to find it. 
Not finding the napkin in its accustomed place he 
takes it for granted that he is supposed to use the 
table-cloth instead. Many international misunder- 
standings are as easy of explanation as this, when 
we take the trouble to inquire into them. 

All hotels are not as cleanly as the one at which 
we stayed in Santa Clara. I find in one of my 
letters to Mrs. Jordan a description of a meal at a 
country inn, in this same province two years later. 



44 CKTJSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

There were ants in the sugar, flies crawling over 
the food, several mosquito larvae in the glass of 
drinking water, a fine fat worm three-quarters of 
an inch long in my plate of rice and beans. I also 
found it impossible to keep the gnats out of my 
eyes while eating. Such are country experiences 
in some parts of Cuba. In this case, however, we 
were more than repaid for the lively time at 
luncheon in the cordial reception by the villagers 
and the large number of books we were able to 
dispose of in this out-of-the-way place. 

How shall I describe the instrument of torture, 
for the heavy man, called in Cuba a bed. True, it 
consists of a frame and springs ; but here its like- 
ness to the American article ends. On the bare 
springs a thin quilt is spread, and on the quilt are 
placed two stiffly starched sheets, one intended for 
cover. These sheets have as much affinity for 
each other as a couple of cakes of glare ice on a 
frosty day. The round pillow stuffed with seeds 
of the cottonwood tree instead of feathers is soon 
discarded and you lie on your back painfully con- 
scious of all of the irregularities of the springs 
beneath, as well as of the lumps in the cotton quilt. 
Soon the slippery starched sheet with which you 
are covered slides to the floor; and you are for- 
tunate if, while you reach for it, the other does not 
slip from under you. At this season of the year, 
November, the nights are cool and these articles 
are needed. Frequently after tossing restlessly 



CUBA 45 

trying to get the necessary sleep one wakens to find 
that both sheets and quilt have eluded captivity, 
and that he is lying on the bare springs. I have 
occasionally secured a night's rest by spreading the 
quilt on the smooth tiled floor. This cannot be 
done, however, in the mosquito season, as the bed 
frames are covered with netting to keep out the 
dangerous pests ; and one must remain underneath 
this necessary protection. No matter how good 
the hotel accommodation may be otherwise, one is 
always glad to get back to the land of felt mat- 
tresses and unstarched sheets. 

Santa Clara is the central point for conventions, 
and is comparatively high and cool. It is also one 
of the centres of the work of the Methodist, Bap- 
tist and Presbyterian missions, each having a 
church in the City. This particular conference was 
held in the property of the Methodists. Many pa- 
pers were read and discussed on different phases 
of the work of the young people; as well as on 
Sunday-school work. Mr. Reoseco gave an ad- 
dress on the importance of Bible circulation in the 
work of evangelization. 

I was much pleased to learn that, although it 
was my first experience in hearing Spanish spoken, 
I could follow the arguments of all the addresses. 
The mental effort was somewhat taxing, however. 
What confused me most was, perhaps, the sound 
of the " c " and " z." Books that I had studied 
told me that " c " before " e " and " i " was pro- 



46 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

nounced like " th " and the same sound was given 
to " z " before " a " and " o." This is emphatically 
not the case, anywhere in Spanish America, except 
perhaps in Uruguay. " C " before a vowel is al- 
ways pronounced like " s " and so is " z," and I 
counsel all beginners in Spanish, who intend to use 
this language anywhere in Latin America, not to 
attempt to give either of these letters the " th " 
sound. This sound is given to them only in parts 
of Spain. Outside of Spain the " s " sound is used 
exclusively. It is true, natives from those parts 
of Spain coming to America generally retain their 
peculiar lisp but it disappears with the second gen- 
eration, if they continue to reside in America. 
Outside of Spain itself this pronunciation is con- 
sidered affected. 

At this convention in Santa Clara I met many 
who have ever since been fast friends and es- 
teemed coworkers in all efforts for the extension 
of the Kingdom in Spanish America. There were 
representatives of the Northern and Southern Bap- 
tists, the Northern and Southern Presbyterians, 
Methodists, Friends, Congregationalists and Dis- 
ciples. The papers were good and the discussions 
animated and interesting. Especially was the con- 
vention helpful to me in giving me an acquaintance 
with the workers and a knowledge of the field; 
which, without its help, I should have been long in 
acquiring. 

It was an animated car- full of care- free Cubans 



CUBA 47 

that left Santa Clara the night of our return to 
Havana. Most were smoking cigarettes, groups 
were engaged in conversation; some soldiers were 
singing a patriotic air in which several of the pas- 
sengers joined. All at once the car left the rails 
and started swaying and bouncing along the ties. 
Never, before or since, have I seen such a sudden 
change from joy to terror. Instantly all of us 
were on our feet attempting to maintain ourselves 
in a standing position by holding on to the backs 
of the seats. The air was filled with the screams 
of women who involuntarily caught hold, each of 
the nearest man to her, and clung to him for pro- 
tection. No one knew what had happened. It 
might mean the beginnings of another revolution, 
or an attack by bandits. The train finally came to 
a standstill, however, and we learned that the trou- 
ble was the result of a loose rail. The ground was 
level and the derailed car did not overturn. One 
man, a tramp, who had been trying to steal a ride 
underneath the first-class car at the rear, was killed. 
After considerable delay the passengers of the 
three derailed cars were told to crowd forward into 
those still on the track and the train proceeded. 
Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Baker and myself found stand- 
ing room in the baggage-car and continued our 
journey to the next station. Here we were obliged 
to wait for several hours, arriving in Havana about 
midday instead of in the early morning as we had 
anticipated. 



Ill 

CUBA (Continued) 

A CIRCULAR letter had been sent out noti- 
fying the Christian workers in Cuba of 
the retirement of Mr. Reoseco and of my 
appointment to the work. We received many let- 
ters of welcome from pastors all over the Island. 
There was one feature of these letters that struck 
me as being especially agreeable, showing the hos- 
pitality of the Cuban. Every one of them, at the 
close, gave the address of the writer with an in- 
vitation to make his home mine when I should 
visit the town. These spontaneous invitations 
seemed very thoughtful indeed and would, I 
thought, simplify matters considerably when I 
should be visiting those places for the first time. 
Therefore, on my first trip in the interests of the 
Society, I looked up the letter I had received from 
the native pastor of the place I was to visit, se- 
cured his address, and upon arrival asked the 
coachman to take me to the home of the pastor. I 
was somewhat surprised, when the coach stopped, 
to note the smallness of the house, and later to see 
the largeness of the pastor's family. I saw at 
once that it would be impossible for them to give 
me a room and escaped from the predicament I 

48 



CUBA 49 

was in by asking him to tell me of some good hotel. 
This was, for me, a practical lesson in Spanish 
etiquette. 

On making a new acquaintance a Latin Ameri- 
can almost always gives his own name and street 
number with the words, " There is where you have 
your home," even though he has not the slightest 
idea that the person addressed will ever visit him 
or enter his house. " Mere empty words " we were 
inclined to say ! Hypocritical too ! I do not know 
about it. Let us consider a moment. ... If 
we were in need of shelter or food, the Cuban 
would share his one room with us; or, his last 
morsel. His first invitation may be taken to mean, 
"If you are in need, my house and board are at 
your disposal." Before accepting an invitation of 
the kind, therefore, one should always await a sec- 
ond invitation. If he really wishes you to accept, 
the Spanish American will press the matter. The 
first invitation to share his hospitality should there- 
fore be declined with thanks. The generosity of 
the Spanish American is almost proverbial. A man 
who has a position and is drawing but a small 
salary will frequently support a large number of 
relatives, less fortunate than himself. Very poor 
people frequently take into their homes those who 
are not relatives, but who have no one else to pro- 
vide for them. The custom of adopting homeless 
children is much more general with them than with 
us. 



60 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

Cubans have the custom of offering to their 
friends in this formal way, any article which the 
friend admires, expecting the offer to be refused, 
as a matter of course. Foreigners, not familiar 
with the custom, are apt to be embarrassed, not 
knowing just what to say. On the other hand if 
the offer is accepted the Spanish American friend 
is embarrassed. 

I wonder if these customs, which we are in- 
clined to criticise, are not eminently Christian in 
their origin. When a Spanish gentlemen on being 
accosted by you says: "Your servant, sir," or, 
" I place myself at your service," does not this ex- 
pression hark back through the centuries to the 
command of Him who said, " Let him who would 
be greatest among you be servant of all " ; and is 
there not implied in the offering of the service, 
hospitality, or gift, the supposition that you will 
not accept it unless in need? Let us not criticise 
the custom too severely. There is perhaps more 
to it than appears on the surface. 

A country house in Cuba is a very simple affair, 
except on the large sugar plantations, where houses 
are built for the laborer by the sugar companies 
near and around the mills and refineries. Here the 
sugar industry has developed into a highly special- 
ized and complicated manufacturing concern and 
conditions approach those of a town or village. 
Cuban country or village houses are built by laying 
timbers on the ground, to which are attached up- 




CUBAN VILLAGE HOUSE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. 
FISHERMEN'S HOMES, ESPERANZA, CUBA. 



CUBA 51 

rights running to the upper timbers that support 
the roof. The roof is either thatched or of red 
brick tile. The floor is formed by earth firmly 
packed between the foundation beams of the house, 
bringing the floor thus higher than the level of the 
surrounding ground. This keeps it dry during the 
rainy season. The sides are formed of rough 
boards or leaves of the palm tree, sometimes nailed 
and sometimes tied to the uprights by strong 
withes or vines. 

The furnishings of the house are usually a rough 
table and a few chairs, the seats of which are 
made of untanned cowhide with the hair on, and a 
rude bed or hammock. The walls are hung with 
pictures of the Saints, the Virgin, and cheap, 
highly colored chromos from calendars, tobacco 
and liquor advertisements, etc., etc. 

In a country where wages rule so high as they 
do in Cuba one is surprised to find the laboring 
people content to live so uncomfortably. Why 
does the laborer not buy a piece of land and put 
up a comfortable home? The answer is that the 
vice of gambling, cock-fighting and the purchase 
of lottery tickets take everything he has over and 
above a bare living. 

The national sport of cock-fighting is a disgust- 
ing amusement. Trimmed for fighting, the cock 
is an ugly looking bird. The comb and feathers of 
his neck are cropped close so that his opponent 
may have nothing to seize. The last time I was in 



52 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

Cuba, railroad regulations were such that by pay- 
ing transportation for the rooster its owner could 
take it into the third-class carriage with him. I 
have travelled in Eastern Cuba from Camagiiey to 
Santiago, when there were many of these birds in 
the third-class compartment. During the day they 
were the object of great solicitude on the part of 
their owners who took constant care of them. To 
cool the birds, the men would fill their own mouths, 
from time to time, with water and give them a 
shower bath, by blowing a spray all over them, 
especially under the wings. This spray not only 
reaches the bird; but near-by passengers receive a 
liberal share as well. When riding at night, the car 
smells like a chicken coop before morning and the 
early morning hours are rendered sleepless by the 
constant crowing of the pampered birds. I have 
never witnessed a cock-fight but I have seen the 
crowd yelling and gesticulating around the cock- 
pit, acting as though their lives depended on the 
victory of their particular bird. The owner of the 
victorious rooster carries him in triumph from the 
pit, washing him, dressing his wounds and caring 
for him, as though he were human, in order that 
he may quickly regain his strength and be ready for 
another fight. 

One of the sources of the support of the Cuban 
government is the income from sale of lottery 
tickets. Government agents selling these tickets 
are to be seen everywhere, standing on the street 



CUBA 53 

corners, in the cafes, at the doors of the hotels, 
and railway stations, in the waiting rooms, and 
boarding trains as they pass through stations, 
shouting out the numbers of the tickets they have 
for sale and appealing to all to buy. The tickets 
are divided into fractional parts which are sold as 
low as fifty cents. Many people put all their spare 
money into the lottery, hoping some day to draw 
the grand prize and become rich. Some laborers 
spend as much as three- fourths of their earnings 
for lottery tickets, living on the merest pittance in 
the hope of some day having enough money to 
satisfy all their earthly ambitions. As there are 
drawings every month, the temptation to try one's 
luck and the consequent drain upon the resources 
of the poor is constant. Besides the grand prize, 
several minor prizes are given out. The names of 
those drawing prizes are widely advertised in the 
newspapers in order to encourage the people to 
continue buying. In their eyes, however, nothing 
short of the grand prize is to be striven for. Gen- 
erally the amount drawn is immediately squan- 
dered. Our cook once drew five dollars. She 
asked for a day off, immediately, and made a feast 
for her friends which cost between six and seven 
dollars. Thus the Cuban government exploits the 
weakness of its people. 

The absolute necessities of existence are so easily 
obtained in Cuba that they in themselves do not 
present much incentive for economy. No food is 



54 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

necessary to produce heat, and, during the greater 
part of the year, clothing is worn for decency only, 
and not for protection against the inclemency of 
the weather. In country places the children of 
both sexes frequently go entirely naked until six 
or seven years of age. In Havana during 1908- 
1910 it was not unusual to see a child stalking 
proudly down the street, clothed in nothing but 
smiles, sunshine, and a pair of shoes. There is a 
growing sentiment, however, against allowing chil- 
dren to run about on the streets in nature's garb. 

I wish I could get Mrs. Jordan to describe house- 
keeping in the Tropics. As I cannot, I will just 
refer to it. At first she tried to do her own cook- 
ing, on an alcohol stove, as she could not endure 
working over the poison fumes of the charcoal, 
which is the fuel used exclusively in the open grates 
of the Cuban kitchen. 

There are restaurants in Havana that send out 
ready-cooked meals to the offices and residences of 
patrons. They send the food in carriers divided 
into compartments, placed one upon another. A 
handle runs through the whole serving as a bail by 
which it is carried. As these restaurants also 
furnish the dishes, sending a boy to gather them 
up when the meal is over, the arrangement seemed 
to be an ideal one. We inquired the prices at one 
of the caterers of this class, and they seemed so 
reasonable that we decided to order one meal a 
day sent to the house. 



CUBA 55 

The first meal sent from the restaurant was a 
change, so entirely different from what we had 
been having that it went finely. The following day 
it was eaten with not quite so much relish, and the 
memories of the third meal are with us yet. After 
uncovering the dishes and catching the odor we 
could not bring ourselves to the point where we 
had courage to tackle the food. I can assure my 
readers that codfish that, after being dried in the 
sun, has been packed in holds of vessels and 
shipped to the tropics, where it has lain exposed 
until sold, is a quite different article from that 
sold in the stores at home. Also the dried beef, 
used so largely in Cuba and imported from the 
Argentine, as the codfish is imported from Nova 
Scotia, has a very different flavor from dried beef 
that we know in the home land. The garlic used 
in the cooking, strong as it is, is not sufficient to 
kill the peculiar odor of the fish and beef. Twice 
we made the attempt to eat food prepared in these 
places, the next time trying another restaurant. 

We found the Chinese laundrymen of Havana 
reliable and satisfactory. They handled a family 
wash very cheaply. The large colony of Orientals 
in Cuba seems to be prospering. There are many 
Chinese gardeners in the vicinity of the Capital 
raising vegetables for the city market. These in- 
dustrious citizens of the Celestial Republic seem to 
be making a good living supplying but a small part 
of Havana's needs. 



66 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

Rich as Cuba is agriculturally she produces but 
a small portion of her own foodstuffs. Hundreds 
of thousands of dozens of eggs are imported each 
year from the United States ; as well as great quan- 
tities of potatoes, cabbage, and other vegetables. 
Rice is brought from India and China ; dried beef, 
from the Argentine; coffee, from Porto Rico; 
peas and beans, from Mexico, and onions and gar- 
lic from the Canary Island, etc.; in spite of the 
fact that Cuba has land well adapted to raising 
all of these crops. As a natural result food is ab- 
normally expensive, making living cost more than 
might be expected from the fertility of the soil 
throughout the Island. 

In the West Indies as well as in all tropical coun- 
tries, the housekeeper must be on constant guard 
against vermin. Eternal vigilance is the price of 
cleanliness. In Havana fleas are a common annoy- 
ance, especially on the street-cars, and in the busi- 
ness section of the city, where the floors are not 
washed daily. These are cleanly pests compared 
with certain other company one is likely to bring 
from his trips abroad. 

Early in 1909, having occasion to go to Puerto 
Esperanza by the night boat, I retired early in 
hopes of getting a good night's rest. I was soon 
disturbed, however, by disagreeable sensations 
which I will not attempt to describe. Turning on 
the light at the head of the bed, I immediately 
discovered the causes of my discomfort scurrying 



CUBA 57 

out of sight over the coverlet and sheets and up 
the side of the bunk. Not particularly pleased 
with my stateroom company I dressed and went 
on deck, reporting to one of the officials that life 
below was impossible. He offered me another 
stateroom which I declined with thanks, preferring 
to remain on deck rather ftian run the risk of an- 
other such attack. 

On my return I purchased a deck passage, and 
took my place among the laborers in the fore part 
of the ship. The Captain saw me as he was going 
to dinner and sent for me to dine with him. (Deck 
passengers are not furnished food.) For the re- 
mainder of the trip I was his guest. I thought he 
was trying to atone for the indignity of putting me 
into the vermin-infested stateroom. I will recipro- 
cate by withholding from print the name of the 
boat and that of the insect that so disturbed my 
tranquillity and cheated me out of the much needed 
night's sleep. 

Thereafter when taking inter-island or coasting 
steamers, I carried a hammock, and, in case of 
necessity, I would use it to avoid undesirable 
company. I found that when travelling much in 
the country in Cuba and Haiti, it is wise to carry 
one's own hammock and mosquito netting; for in 
many cases the beds are preoccupied by a hungry 
inhabitant that seems to have great fondness for 
the stranger. 

Any words or phrases at my command are ut- 



5$ CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

terly inadequate to describe the beauty of the land- 
scape of Cuba, the delight fulness of its climate of 
never-ending spring, or the attractiveness of its 
winsome, versatile, and lovable inhabitants : a veri- 
table earthly paradise the gate to the full apprecia- 
tion and enjoyment of which sin alone has closed. 
An air that is always balmy, at times refreshingly 
cool, and never oppressively hot, invites to long ex- 
cursions among waving fields of luxuriant cane 
which an apparently inexhaustible soil produces in 
tons upon tons per acre and whose sweet crystals 
reaching the ends of the earth through the arteries 
of commerce have made Cuba rich and caused her 
to be called the " Sugar bowl of the world " ; or to 
rambles over hillsides rendered exquisitely fra- 
grant by blossoming coffee plantations. The ma- 
jestically crowned white-trunked royal palms, the 
spreading mango-tree, the feathery bamboo and the 
gracefully swaying cocoanut; besides a multi- 
tudinous variety of many-flavored fruits, and of 
multi-hued tropical flowers, butterflies, and other 
insects; all enhance the alluring beauty of this en- 
chanting land. 

Looking seaward advancing from the lines 
where azure sky and deep-blue ocean meet, the 
crystalline waters reflect in many pleasing com- 
binations of rainbow hues the colors of the sands 
beneath. 

The sunsets, beautiful at all times, are magnifi- 
cent during the rainy season. Nothing can excel in 



CUBA 59 

grandeur the appearance of the approach of a 
thunder-storm from the northeast as the sun is 
setting. In the mountains of bright billowy clouds, 
piled high in the heavens, flashes of forked light- 
ning are seen, very pale indeed in comparison with 
those of the dark recesses below where the vivid 
flashes portray the immensity of the forces at 
work. 

At night, seated on the flat housetop which be- 
comes, during the greater part of the year, a 
private observatory par excellence, because of its 
ease of access, one can witness the galaxy of con- 
stellations, in the broad expanse between the 
Southern Cross and the North Star — both of 
which are visible at this latitude — in their mighty 
march across the heavens. 

In the contemplation of nature at every turn the 
senses are gratified, the emotions aroused, the im- 
agination appealed to, and the sense of reverence 
deepened for the loving Father, who through His 
wonderful works thus manifests Himself to the 
children of men and demonstrates His love for 
them. 

And the Cubans themselves, this care- free pleas- 
ure-loving people, are sociable, affable, hospitable, 
affectionate, and lovers of children to a degree un- 
surpassed by any other people. If the Cubans are 
won from the slavery of sin to the liberty that is in 
Christ Jesus it will be through the affections rather 
than by the cold logic of polemics or the clinching 



60 CBTJSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

of arguments, however conclusive these in them- 
selves may be. 

After all, what we are in Cuba for is to lead her 
sons and daughters to a personal knowledge of the 
loving Father who has showered His gifts upon 
and around them with such unstinted munificence. 

Once visited, Cuba can never be forgotten nor 
looked upon with indifference. Again and again 
the heart, in memory and in imagination, returns 
to its shores. Personally we thank God for the 
privilege that was ours of representing an organ- 
ized effort on the part of the churches of America, 
through the American Bible Society, to place in 
every Cuban home the message of love and sal- 
vation. 



IV 

CUBA (Concluded) 

BIBLE circulation is, and has been from the 
first, an important factor in the progress of 
evangelical Christianity in Latin America. 
" Back to the Bible " is the motto of the colporter 
of the Bible Society, as he strikes out adventur- 
ously into unexplored territory, and many are the 
trophies brought in through his single-handed ef- 
forts. The Bible is often the opening wedge, pre- 
paring the way for other organized mission work ; 
and the acceptance of its truths by some one indi- 
vidual frequently becomes the nucleus around 
which crystallizes the faith of the community, and 
the foundation upon which a future church is built. 
The following cases will illustrate this feature of 
the work of these pioneer Bible sellers. 

Among my early activities in Cuba was a visit 
to one such hitherto unoccupied town, the Port of 
Esperanza, north of the capital of the Province of 
Pinar del Rio. Esperanza had no religious serv- 
ices whatever. The nearest Roman church was 
several miles away and the priest seldom visited 
the place. Our colporter living in the interior of 
the Province had worked across country to this 

61 



62 CKTTSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

port. Such was his success in selling books here 
and in the surrounding country, and so enthusias- 
tic was he in his description of his cordial reception 
by the people, that I was glad to avail myself of 
the first opportunity to visit him and see the work. 

It was in Esperanza that I had the privilege of 
delivering a gospel message for the first time in 
Spanish to an individual where there was every 
evidence that the seed was falling into good 
ground. Sitting at the door of the house where 
the colporter was staying was a woman whose 
every appearance indicated that she was fast wast- 
ing away with tuberculosis. I felt a great desire 
to point her to Christ, and said something regard- 
ing the future life intended to draw her out. 

" Do you believe that? " said she. " Yes," I re- 
plied, " don't you? " " No, I do not believe any 
such tomfoolery. I believe there is a God, yes; 
but life after death, no." 

Taking out my Spanish pocket-Bible I asked her 
if I might read her a few passages from that little 
book. She was quite willing to have me do so. I 
read among other portions the Shepherd's Psalm, 
John 3: 16; and I finished with Revelation 
21: 17: "And the Spirit and the Bride say come, 
and let him that heareth say come ; and him that is 
athirst let him come; and whosoever will let him 
take the water of life freely." I shall never for- 
get the growing expression of interest with which 
she regarded me as I continued reading. " Que 



CUBA 63 

Bonito!" ("How beautiful! ") she exclaimed as 
I finished. Finding that she could read, I made 
her a present of a New Testament. During the 
two or three days that I remained in the place we 
noticed that she spent most of her time reading 
with intense interest her newly acquired treasure. 

There were so many people in Puerto Esperanza 
who desired the establishment of religious services 
that I decided to see what could be done. The 
Baptists and Methodists were nearest, having work 
in Pinar del Rio. I went to see them first. 
Neither of these denominations were able to take 
up the new work. I then went to see the late Rev. 
Milton Green, D. D., Superintendent of the Pres- 
byterian Mission in Havana. Dr. Green had a 
young preacher whom he could spare from another 
field ; and after visiting the town, decided to send 
him there at once. 

I was present when the church of Puerto Es- 
peranza was organized some time later. A widow 
and her five grown children presented themselves 
as candidates for membership. I asked the mother 
what it was that had attracted them to the faith. 
She informed me that her husband, who was bed- 
ridden for some time before his death, had a Bible 
that he used to read every day. He told his family 
that that book contained the true word of God. 
He told them there was nothing in it about purga- 
tory, the worship of the Virgin, protection by the 
Saints, or many of the other doctrines taught by 



64 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

Rome. This teaching of the father had prepared 
the way; so that when the mission worker came, 
teaching only the doctrines found in the Book, the 
family gladly received the Word. 

I served my apprenticeship with the Bible So- 
ciety in Cuba, travelling a great deal of the time 
with the colporters in their house-to-house visita- 
tion ; thereby becoming familiar, not only with the 
use of the language, but with the customs of the 
people and the difficulties our workers had to con- 
tend with. The tact and ability of some of these 
men in meeting objections and selling the books 
to those who were, at first, indifferent or opposed 
was frequently astonishing to me. 

Once, near Cardenas, a woman on being offered 
a Bible replied very decidedly and abruptly: " No, 
I am an Apostolic Roman Catholic. I will not 
look at the book." To which the colporter replied, 
" I am an Apostolic Cuban Catholic," placing the 
emphasis on the word Cuban. This attracted her 
attention. He went on to explain the meaning of 
the word Catholic, and to show that Rome had 
always been the enemy of Cuban liberty. He com- 
pletely won her attention and respect. Whether 
the sale was made or not, I do not remember ; but 
he had succeeded in making a friend. 

At another time I took a trip with Colporter 
Talavera, from Santiago to Santa Clara. We 
were then allowed to sell Bibles on the railway 
trains. Sr. Talavera was busy all day long. He 



CUBA 65 

is a quiet unobtrusive man, and I was surprised at 
his success. In one case especially, a Spaniard 
treated him very abruptly ; saying that he did not 
believe in religion, and that he wanted nothing to 
do with the Bible. After Sr. Talavera had gone 
through the car offering the book to others, I again 
found him sitting beside this same man engaged in 
an animated conversation about something that 
was of mutual interest. Talavera finally sold the 
man a Bible, and they parted the best of friends. 

Another colporter of an entirely different type 
was Don Ramon Pumpido, a Spaniard, an ex- 
officer of the Spanish army of occupation in Cuba. 
He had fought, not only the Cubans, but the 
American army at Santiago. Pumpido was con- 
verted in Cienfuegos and joined the Baptist Church 
there. He was energetic and aggressive, enthusias- 
tic and insistent, and used to sell a great many 
books. I often wondered that people did not get 
offended at his persistence. I suppose it was be- 
cause they appreciated his earnestness; for he al- 
ways left them in the best of humor. 

Well does the writer remember setting Pumpido 
at work in Cienfuegos. The month was July and 
Cienfuegos was hot. I had been out in the morn- 
ing with Sr. Talavera, had come in for lunch and 
was taking the usual midday " siesta," in the home 
of the Rev. Mr. Sewell, whose guest I was. A 
visitor was announced. Wondering who, in Cuba, 
would make a call in the middle of the day, I went 



66 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

into the living-room, and whom should I find but 
Sr. Pumpido, who had started work that morning, 
and to whom I had given books enough, as I 
thought, to last a beginner a week. He was cov- 
ered with dust; perspiration was streaming down 
his face ; his collar was a rag about his neck ; and 
his shirt wet as though it had just come out of 
the wash-tub. His features, however, were radi- 
ant. He had sold all his books and had returned 
for more. Most cheerfully I supplied his needs. 

We had a few words of prayer together, thank- 
ing our Father for His blessing; and as he was 
leaving I asked where he was going, supposing him 
to be on his way home for a rest. Oh, he replied, 
to such and such a street, mentioning the point 
where he had left off working. " Why, man ! " I 
said, " you must rest in the middle of the day and 
start out again when it becomes cooler. You can 
never stand it to work like this through the heat 
of the day." 

Straightening up and facing me, Sr. Pumpido 
replied, " Sir, I am a Spanish soldier. I spent 
twenty years in the Spanish army. I am accus- 
tomed to the sun and rain: they don't hurt me." 

I had thought that first day Serlor Pumpido's 
enthusiasm would soon wane. I was mistaken. A 
corded bundle of nerves and energy he spent sev- 
eral years carrying a regular tornado of arguments 
in favor of Bible reading from one end of Cuba to 
the other. 



CUBA 67 

Four years later, I was again in Cuba, spending 
a few days in its hottest city, Santiago, waiting for 
the French boat to take me to Haiti. Again, in 
the middle of the day, Pumpido called. Again, 
after a pleasant and profitable visit, I asked, as he 
was leaving, where he was going. " Oh," he said, 
" I am going to write some letters and wait a while 
before starting out for the afternoon's work. It 
is time lost to try to sell in the middle of the day." 
His enthusiasm and success were no less. He had 
learned, however, that conservation of energy 
meant increased efficiency. 

The colporters were all better salesmen than I. 
Some of my suggestions, however, were helpful to 
them. I found them offering the Bible first and 
doing their very best to sell the whole Bible. If 
they failed in this, they would then offer a New 
Testament; and, in case of failure would try to 
sell a single Gospel or other separate book, not 
placing much importance on the sale of the smaller 
books. Their sales were therefore comparatively 
small; because, after having refused the larger 
book, for any reason whatever, it was easier for a 
person to refuse again. Also, if a desire had been 
created to purchase the whole Bible, the party would 
not be satisfied with a part only, preferring to wait 
till he could afford to purchase the complete book. I 
proposed that they take the opposite course, offer- 
ing the Gospels first. This had a surprising effect on 
their sales. It was easy to create a desire to pur^ 



68 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

chase the smaller book. After selling a Gospel, 
saying it was a part of the whole Bible, made the 
sale of the larger book easier. The colporter 
would take back the book already sold in exchange 
if requested to do so. Employing this method of 
presentation the sales of the men increased from 
two hundred copies a month to one thousand and 
even more. In this way they succeeded in placing 
the Gospel in the hands of many persons who by 
the former method could not have been persuaded 
to purchase at all. 

About this time Mr. David Cole of Gerard, 
Kansas, then just out of school, began his services 
with the Society. Mr. Cole had remarkable suc- 
cess in Camaguey where, in a house-to-house can- 
vass, he sold more than two thousand books. In 
his struggles with the language Mr. Cole had to 
contend with a slightly defective hearing. At one 
time he wrote me suggesting that we change the 
price of the three-cent Gospels for, he said, " I 
cannot make the people understand me. When I 
say the price is three cents they always think I say 
either six or thirteen." I replied telling him that 
it was because of his defective pronunciation of the 
Spanish " r " in the word " tres " ; that, since he 
had as many muscles in his tongue as a Cuban, I 
would suggest that he master the pronunciation of 
that letter. "Cubans are exceedingly polite," I 
told him, " and when you ask them if you have the 
correct pronunciation of a letter they will invari- 



CUBA 69 

ably tell you, ' Yes/ not only because they do not 
wish to hurt your feelings, but because they really 
do understand, at the time, what you are trying to 
say. You will know when you are correct, how- 
ever, when your * tres ' (three) is not mistaken for 
1 seis ' (six) or ' trece ' (thirteen)." Mr. Cole saw 
the point and took the advice. 

One is frequently chagrined at the lack of effort 
to master the details of Spanish on the part of 
Americans using it continually. When revisiting 
Cuba after we had moved to Porto Rico, I was 
once introduced to a congregation as a representa- 
tive from Porta Rica, instead of Porto Rico; or, 
the man from the " Rich Door " instead of the 
man from the " Wealthy Port." I heard another 
American in the same town take part in a debate 
with a Spanish-speaking journalist. In Spanish, as 
in Latin and French, many shades of meaning are 
represented by the use of the subjunctive mood. It 
is the form used for the expression of contingency 
and doubt. It is the form for request, and to 
modify statements which might otherwise appear 
too dogmatic. The American marshalled a great 
many facts; but his presentation of them was so 
crude that it was painful to listen to him. He did 
not use the subjunctive mood once in the whole 
address. The journalist was a master of the lan- 
guage, as well as of the courtesies required by the 
occasion. The address impressed his hearers as a 
literary masterpiece and the judges gave him the 



70 CEUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

debate; although the American attempted to pre- 
sent (I will not say presented) the strongest argu- 
ments. 

The continued use of the language without mas- 
tering it is like a man chopping with a dull ax, or 
hunting for big game with an old-fashioned blun- 
derbuss. He will make plenty of noise; but will 
not accomplish as much as he might otherwise do. 
I have heard young missionaries say that they 
could not find time to study the language. Imagine 
a woodman saying he could not get time to sharpen 
his ax, or file his saw, or a hunter that he could not 
take time to be sure of his aim. 

The gentlemen referred to are no longer in the 
West Indies. It is to be taken for granted that all 
who are there now are serious students of the 
language. This word is intended for those who 
may go to Spanish America in the future. The 
Spanish language is the weapon you will be using 
against evil in your crusade to win souls for Christ. 
Always continue to polish it and improve your 
ability to manipulate it; thereby making it as ef- 
fective a weapon as possible in your hands. We 
Americans do not take the pains we ought to mas- 
ter a foreign language. We are all of us too in- 
clined to be satisfied when we get to the point 
where we feel that we are making ourselves under- 
stood. 

I must not leave Cuba without calling attention 
to a few more of the results of the work of the 



CUBA 71 

modern crusader, who goes forth fully armed with 
the " Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of 
God." 

Mr. Mufioz, a deacon of the Presbyterian 
Church in Matanzas, in early life started to educate 
himself for the priesthood. He had gone as far 
as he could with his studies in Cuba and was in 
Havana, on his way to Spain, to complete his 
course. He saw a man selling Bibles on the street. 
He had never seen a Bible before. He bought it 
out of curiosity, took it to his room to read. 
Glancing through it his eyes lighted on 1 Timothy 
3 : 2, where Timothy is told that the bishop should 
be the husband of one wife. Here is something 
wrong, he said to himself. The Church tells me 
that I must not marry ; and the Bible enjoins mar- 
riage. The more he read the more divergence he 
found between the teachings of the Bible and the 
practices of Rome. He could find nothing of the 
doctrine of Purgatory, the Mass, or the worship of 
Saints and the Virgin. He decided not to take the 
next boat for Spain as he had intended ; but to re- 
main for a while in the home of a friend near 
Havana and continue his study of the Book. The 
more he read, the more thoroughly he became con- 
vinced of the errors of Rome. Learning that a 
Protestant minister, the Rev. Mr. Baker, holding 
services near by, was using the Bible as authority, 
he went to hear him; with the result that instead 
of going to Spain to continue his studies for the 



72 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

priesthood, he became converted and an active 
member of the Protestant Church. 

At the Sunday School Convention in Santiago 
de Cuba in 1910, one of the delegates, Senor Jose 
Reyes, a former colporter, then working with the 
Friends Mission in Holguin, Cuba, came to me, his 
face beaming with joy. He had found a woman, 
a member of one of the churches in Santiago, who 
told him that she and all of her family had become 
convinced of the truth through a Bible sold them 
by him on one of his trips along the North Coast. 
On moving to Santiago they joined one of the 
churches in the city. Mr. Reyes wanted me to 
have the pleasure of meeting the woman and of 
learning, at first hand, of this fruit of Bible distri- 
bution. 

An American school teacher working for one of 
the sugar companies near Puerto Padre, Cuba, was 
interested in Christian work, and hearing that there 
was a Protestant lady in the near-by town, went 
to call on her. The woman denied being a Protes- 
tant or knowing anything about the Protestants. 
Calling her such was like accusing her of an un- 
known crime. She readily acknowledged having a 
Bible and believing it to be the Word of God. She 
was glad to find that the American stranger also 
knew and loved the Bible. The book in the pos- 
session of this Cuban woman proved to be one of 
the few that remained from a number that had 
been sold by a visiting colporter some years before ; 



CUBA 73 

the priest having succeeded in gathering up and 
destroying the others. This thirsty soul had read 
and reread the Book until she was as familiar with 
the principal characters of its history as she was 
with the history of the members of her own family. 
To her the Bible story was very real, especially the 
life of Jesus. Her conclusion was that the Scribes 
and Pharisees denounced by Christ were Romish 
priests. Although she had never heard the Gospel 
preached, Mrs. Benedict, the American visitor, had 
no doubt that this woman had found Christ. 

In 1917, I saw an account by Rev. F. Peters 
in the magazine Missions of a woman coming 
from Puerto Padre to Las Tunas. The first time 
that she visited the church she presented herself 
for baptism. Upon examination she was found to 
be grounded in the faith, although she had never 
attended a Protestant service before. I have no 
doubt this woman was the same of whom Mrs. 
Benedict had told me some years before. 

The importance of this Bible distribution by the 
colporters of the American Bible Society lies, not 
only in the individual souls that are, here and there, 
led to Christ by the reading of the Book under the 
guidance of the Spirit; but in the fact that the 
general distribution of the Bible, and its being 
more or less widely read, form a sort of ground- 
work upon which the missionaries can begin to 
build in territory hitherto unoccupied. The pos- 
session of the Bible and belief in its message is 



74 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

the foundation upon which an indigenous church 
must be built. 

One of the greatest needs of Cuba to-day is 
Christian literature. With the general increase of 
literacy there is an increased demand for reading 
matter and therefore a greater opportunity for the 
spread of the Gospel through the printed page. In 
Cuba the forces of evil seem to be much more 
awake to the opportunity of getting in their work, 
through the press, than is the Christian Church. I 
have never, anywhere else, seen such a mass of vile 
novels and other obscene literature for sale, as in 
the bookstores of the Island. 

The highly colored illustrations on the covers of 
the cheaply bound books that decorate the adver- 
tising space of the book-stalls are so indecent and 
suggestive of vice that going to a bookstore for a 
needed article is like trying to rescue something of 
value from the mud of a gutter. It is impossible 
to secure the good without contamination with the 
vile. I have known people to cross to the other side 
of the street, and even go around a block rather 
than pass one of these stores when in the com- 
pany of a lady. 

The vile character of some of the pictures of- 
fered for sale by well-dressed young men, osten- 
sibly selling picture postals, on the streets of San- 
tiago and Havana, exceeds in obscenity anything 
that I have ever seen pictured on the walls of the 
heathen temples of India, 



CUBA ?5 

There is such a demand for reading matter 
throughout Cuba that travelling salesmen are able 
to make a living going from house to house with 
cheaply bound books. The literature that they sell 
is not all bad. They carry some of the works of 
the best Spanish authors, and some translations of 
excellent English and French works ; but in the col- 
lections that I saw, the vile predominated. 

Protestant America has been late in grasping the 
importance of the circulation of Christian litera- 
ture in the evangelization of Spanish America. 
The American Tract Society employed one col- 
porter in the vicinity of Havana ; and, at times, the 
American Baptist Publication Society employed a 
man in Eastern Cuba. Missionaries, also, kept on 
hand small stocks of helpful books; but there was 
no centre where all the evangelical literature pub- 
lished in Spanish, or even a respectable fraction of 
it, could be secured. Native pastors used to lament 
the difficulty experienced in securing good reading 
matter for themselves, their congregations, and for 
general distribution. The little that was available 
came from such widely separated sources as the 
United States, Spain, and the Argentine. 

Since the time of which I write, something has 
been done towards securing a more adequate sup- 
ply of literature for the workers in Cuba. The 
Committee on Cooperation in Latin America is 
publishing an illustrated monthly magazine calcu- 
lated to reach the educated classes. A small book- 



76 CBTJSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

store has also been established in Havana. What 
has been done, however, is very little indeed com- 
pared with the present opportunity of reaching the 
whole people through the printed page. 

An interdenominational, illustrated, Christian 
family paper is needed. Also, we ought to see that 
the whole Island is covered by the itinerant col- 
porter, selling, from door to door, wholesome, up- 
lifting, character-building literature. The great 
need is for a united effort on the part of evangel- 
ical Christianity to counteract the flood of vile 
literature that is swamping this beautiful Island, 
so richly endowed with natural attractions. 



HAITI 

DIRECTLY south from Boston and New 
York in the direct path of steamships sail- 
ing from New York to Panama, lies the 
Island of Haiti, on which are located the Republics 
of Haiti and Santo Domingo. Comparatively 
small this Island appears on the maps ; yet it covers 
a territory in excess of the combined area of Con- 
necticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. 

The whole Island has a remarkably pleasant and 
healthful climate; especially so in the higher alti- 
tudes. It possesses the highest mountain, as well 
as the highest mountain range in the West Indies. 
During the summer months when we in the United 
States and Canada are sweltering, with the ther- 
mometer ranging around 100 in the shade, the tem- 
perature, even in the coast towns of Haiti, seldom 
reaches 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The Island is also 
very rich in agricultural possibilities. 

It is said that nowhere in the world is there to be 
found such a varied flora in so small a territory as 
in Haiti. Its mountains and table-lands produce 
most of the products of the Temperate Zone; while 
on the plains and hills near the coast are raised, in 

77 



78 CEUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

great abundance, the fruits of the Tropics. I know 
of no other market, except that of Mexico City, 
which displays such a variety of native products 
as does that of Port-au-Prince, the Capital of 
Haiti. Women come down the rugged mountain 
paths at the back of the City bringing on their 
heads baskets rilled with turnips, carrots, potatoes, 
cabbage, strawberries and peaches grown in the 
cool climate of the higher elevations. Other 
women come in boats and along the paths skirting 
the seashore, bringing bananas, oranges, mangoes, 
and other fruits of the Tropics grown in the lower 
altitudes. 

Watered by abundant rains, its heat tempered by 
the trade winds and the altitude of its mountains, 
with a soil of inexhaustible fertility, why has 
Haiti not taken her stand among the nations of 
the earth? Before the French Revolution, Haiti 
was a prosperous French Colony. It was a pros- 
perity, however, built upon slave labor. During 
the time of the first Napoleon, after a war in which 
many atrocities were committed on both sides, the 
blacks achieved their independence and the whites 
were expelled. Since that time Haiti has been like 
a piece of Central Africa planted in the Western 
World. The mulattos, generally, and those who 
had come in closer contact with the French, were 
for the things that made for progress. The mass 
of the people were ignorant, many of them but re- 
cently imported from Africa. These were in- 



HAITI 79 

tensely jealous of the progressive element 
Through civil wars and revolutions the worst ele- 
ment gained the ascendency and maintained it by 
assassination of prospective political opponents. 

After the withdrawal of the French, left entirely 
to herself, Haiti started on the road to ruin, resting 
only occasionally from a mad orgy of civil wars, 
revolutionary uprisings, assassinations, and mur- 
ders, until recently stopped by the occupation of 
the country by Uncle Sam's marines. Politically 
we are now acting the Good Samaritan to our 
badly wounded and exhausted neighbor. 

In October, 1909, in answer to some inquiries I 
had made regarding the need of Bibles in Haiti, I 
received a letter from Rev. A. F. Parkinson-Turn- 
bull, the energetic representative of the Wesleyan 
Methodist Church of England, located at Port-au- 
Prince, stating that in his trips to the interior he 
had visited towns of from five to eight thousand 
inhabitants, where a copy of the Bible or New Tes- 
tament could not be found and where the people 
were in absolute ignorance of the Bible story. 

There being no opportunity at the time to obtain 
passage from Cuba to Haiti, I went to New York 
by one of the Ward Line boats, and, going to the 
Bible House, chose what I thought a suitable stock 
of French books and took passage for Port-au- 
Prince on a boat of the Atlas Line, arriving No- 
vember the fifth, 1909. 

Our ship came to anchor at a distance from the 



80 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

shore during the night, and at daybreak we 
steamed slowly towards the port. 

To one familiar with the glowing descriptions of 
the abundant vegetation of the Tropics, the view on 
the approach to Cuba, at either Havana or Santi- 
ago, is disappointing. This part of Haiti, how- 
ever, comes up to all expectations. The view from 
the sea is a dream of tropical loveliness. From 
their base, where the roots of the grass and the 
cocoanut palm are bathed by the gentle waves, to 
their very summits the mountains surrounding the 
city of Port-au-Prince are clothed in verdure. The 
city itself, lying at the foot of the mountains, 
shaded, covered, protected, and almost hidden in 
the luxuriant vegetation, is a sight to behold ; with 
the towering cathedral, and the tops of the highest 
buildings only, appearing above the trees. The 
whole scene is one of indescribable beauty. 

Shortly after sunrise, the port doctor, the agent 
of the steamship line, and the pilot, came on board. 
I was much struck with the attire of the last men- 
tioned gentleman. Black as midnight, he appeared 
quite pompous in his gold-braided coat and cap. 
On one foot he wore a brightly polished tan shoe, 
while the other was protected and ornamented by a 
freshly chalked white canvas of different size and 
shape. 

At this time there were no docks at Port-au- 
Prince. Passengers were taken to and from the 
ship in small boats and the freight in lighters. 



HAITI 81 

Each person was obliged to make his own arrange- 
ments for going ashore after the ship had finally 
anchored in the harbor. This is still the case with 
most West Indian ports. In broken English the 
pompous gentleman asked that he might have the 
honor of taking myself and baggage to the wharf 
and of helping me with them through the custom 
house, charging for his services $1.50. When we 
left the ship in the small rowboats the lighters 
had already arrived and had begun to receive the 
cargo. 

I had just been regaled with the beauties of the 
natural surroundings of Port-au-Prince as seen 
from the sea; hence the vividness in my memory 
of the first two hours spent in the city itself. The 
contrast was very great. One traveller has said 
that viewed from without, Port-au-Prince is a 
sight worth coming 5,000 miles to behold; but 
once within the city the first impulse is to travel 
5,000 miles to get away. The men in the boat 
rowed us to the broken-down landing where 
a vociferating mob of ragged blacks were crowd- 
ing to the water's edge, pushing and pulling 
each other, acting for all the world like a crowd 
of unruly, quarrelsome children, each trying 
to get nearer the boat than the other in order 
to be able to improve the opportunity of earn- 
ing a few pennies by helping with the bag- 
gage. The official of the gold braid and variegated 
footwear, who had taken us ashore, motioned to a 



82 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

soldier, a barefoot lad of sixteen, with half of one 
of the legs of his pantaloons gone, very little of the 
seat left, no shirt, a ragged coat and military cap, 
indicating that he help with the baggage. Down 
went his gun immediately in the dirt, to be trodden 
on and kicked about by the jostling crowd, until, 
after having carried my trunk and valises and put 
them down in front of the custom house, he re- 
turned to pick it up. He was a fair sample of the 
average soldier of the famous Haitian army at 
that time, when its gold-braided generals boasted 
to me that their armies had whipped those of Eng- 
land and France. 

At the office, where my passport was examined, 
I was treated with the utmost courtesy by an ebony 
official speaking Parisian French with a perfect ac- 
cent and showing the best of good breeding. As 
I was leaving, one of the officials handed me the 
card of a hotel in which it appeared he was inter- 
ested, and solicited my patronage. On my telling 
the customs officials that I represented the Bible 
Society and that I was visiting the Rev. Mr. Turn- 
bull, the baggage was given a very superficial ex- 
amination and I was allowed to proceed. My man 
did not claim his $1.50 until he had called a coach 
and seen me and my baggage duly installed. I 
learned afterwards that I had taken the most satis- 
factory method of making a landing, i. e., by mak- 
ing the one man responsible and looking only to 
him. If he needs help in handling the baggage, let 



HAITI 83 

him make his own arrangements with any assist- 
ance he may wish to employ. 

Once within the city of Port-au-Prince the im- 
pression of its natural beauty as seen from without 
was forgotten for the time, obliterated as it was 
by the view of dirt and rags, filth and squalor, and 
the stench of the sewage and garbage with which 
the city streets and open gutters were filled. Port- 
au-Prince of those days was simply indescribable. 
The city authorities were supposed to remove the 
garbage once a week and all householders were 
obliged to throw their refuse in a heap on the 
streets outside their doors. I do not suppose it 
had been removed for many weeks when I landed. 
The wind, the passers-by and the hogs that roamed 
the streets had scattered the garbage so that one 
was nearly ankle deep in it. 

The streets had been paved in the time of the 
French, but the pavement was full of holes. The 
horse attached to the ramshackle Victoria was able 
to pull one wheel out of a hole only to have it drop 
into another a little farther on. Thus we made 
our awkward and uncomfortable way to the 
Methodist parsonage. 

The salvation of Port-au-Prince from the stand- 
point of sanitation is its torrential rains. There 
was no sewage system and the municipal ordinance 
for the removal of garbage was not carried out. 
The city at the time I landed was a veritable pest 
hole. This was, however, because it had not re- 



84 CKTJSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

cently rained. A night or two after, we had a ter- 
rific thunder shower ; when the water coming down 
the sides of the mountains turned the streets of the 
city into rushing rivers and swept the filth into the 
sea, so that the following morning they presented 
quite a clean appearance. Not so, however, the 
corner lots. These being used for public toilets 
and not being in the course of the water sweeping 
to the sea, sent up an almost unbearable stench. 

I found more than half of the one hundred thou- 
sand people of the Capital living in temporary 
shacks made of pieces of corrugated iron, dry- 
goods boxes, barrel staves, Standard Oil tins; in 
fact, almost anything that could be put together to 
make a shelter from the sun and rain. The year 
before, the city had been destroyed by fire in time 
of peace, by the order of their president, Nord 
Alexis. This was one of the many atrocities that 
helped to turn the people so against him that An- 
toine Simon, another ignorant adventurer and su- 
perstitious believer in witchcraft, was enabled to 
get into power. 

A distinctive feature of life in Haiti, a knowl- 
edge of which is indispensable to any understanding 
of it, is the universal belief in voodooism, snake 
worship and the power of the witch doctor, relics 
of African fetishism. At the time of securing 
their independence a clause was inserted in the new 
constitution providing that only those having Ne- 
gro or Indian blood could become landowners, 



HAITI 85 

making it from the first a purely African country, 
as the number of Indians was a negligible quantity. 
Not only were the inhabitants of the Republic com- 
posed of a mass of uneducated Negroes, but a 
large percentage of these had but recently been 
imported from Africa, or were the children of 
those so imported. As the French did not believe 
in the education of their slaves, the educated lead- 
ers were few. While those who were educated 
adopted the Roman religion, the great mass of the 
population of Haiti have always been serpent wor- 
shippers, or voodooists; and the whole country, 
from the president down, has always lived in mor- 
tal terror of the witch doctor. It was reported, 
and generally believed, that it was at the instigation 
of a sorcerer, who at a voodoo seance told Presi- 
dent Nord Alexis that a great fire was necessary 
in order to make secure his seat in the presidential 
chair, that the president the following morning 
ordered the city burned. 

The sorcerers and sorceresses are called by the 
natives " Papalois " and " Mamalois." One sees 
their huts which are the centres of the cult 
throughout the Island. They are distinguished by 
the whitewashed front, the neatly swept yard in 
the centre of which is planted a white cross ; while 
sacred palms are to be seen growing about the 
house. The sorcerers, both male and female, are 
supposed to have power to influence the evil spirits. 
It is thought that they are able to produce a cata- 



86 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

leptic state similar to death in the victim ; and that 
after the person, who is supposed to be dead, has 
been buried, the witch doctor can dig him up, re- 
vive him, and by the exercise of supernatural 
powers convert him into his slave or body servant, 
or turn him into an animal. 

The following stories told me on my visits to the 
Island, some by foreigners, some by natives them- 
selves, will illustrate the nature of these beliefs. 

An English gentleman of Port-au-Prince told 
me, at the time of my first visit, of seeing the police 
of that city leading a woman along the street under 
arrest and carrying an apparently dead child. 
Curiosity prompted him to follow to the magi- 
strate's court, where the father of the child accused 
the woman of having killed it. Before the magi- 
strate the woman declared that the child was not 
dead, but only apparently so, as the result of a 
drug that she had used, and, said she: " If you will 
withdraw the charge against me and allow me to go 
free, I will administer the antidote and revive it. 
Otherwise the child will die." At the earnest re- 
quest of the father, the judge promised to let the 
woman go, if she would restore the child. She 
immediately went through with certain perform- 
ances and administered some potion that brought 
the apparently dead child to life. Meanwhile, hav- 
ing secured immunity, she grew bold, and said to 
those surrounding her : " You know that I have a 
child to eat every year, and you (pointing to the 



HAITI 87 

judge), and you, and you (pointing to other offi- 
cers who stood near), have eaten human flesh with 
me. 

Some time later Mr. Paul Delattre, a French- 
man, pastor of the Baptist church in St. Marc, 
Haiti, told me there had recently returned to that 
section a woman whom all her friends believed to 
have died, and to have been buried, some eight 
years before. She returned with five children, and 
with the story that the witch doctor had dug her 
up, brought her to life, and taken her to live with 
him until he was killed in a recent revolution. 
Upon his death she was free, and returned home to 
her parents. 

On my last visit to Haiti, spending a day at the 
Cape, I found the whole city stirred by the story of 
a man who had just returned to the place after 
having, supposedly, been dead and buried for 
years. Here is the story as I was told it by Mr. 
Albert, the native Haitian pastor of the Wesley an 
church at Cape Haiti. 

The man claimed that after his burial the witch 
doctor had exhumed him, and brought him to 
life, turned him into an ox, and in this form had 
worked him until he was set free by the death of 
his master. He said that, as an ox, he was driven 
frequently to the town and that he occasionally met 
and recognized his own mother on these trips. As 
evidence of the truth of his story, the man showed 
a scar upon his neck caused by the yoke. The 



88 _ CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

priest at Cape Haiti corroborated the fact of the 
man's burial ; and the whole story was believed by 
most Haitians living in the place. 

All over Haiti one hears the wildest stories of 
this nature, told in all seriousness by people of 
otherwise ordinary intelligence. For instance, a 
man purchased a pig on a market day and, bring- 
ing it home, tied it to a tree. In the morning he 
found a beautiful young lady tied there in the place 
of the pig. In some way his purchase of her had 
emancipated her from the power of the sorcerer 
and secured for himself a grateful spouse. 

The Haitians are great believers in ghosts. Mr. 
Leon Hyson, manager of a German export estab- 
lishment in Petit Guave, told me how a rich man 
of his acquaintance got his start in life by purchas- 
ing a haunted house for a small sum. Constant 
rappings were heard and nobody was willing to 
live there ; hence the house was sold very cheaply. 

Seated alone one evening in the house, the man 
heard the rapping, which appeared to come from 
the ceiling. In a loud voice he commanded who- 
ever it was to come down. A pair of feet ap- 
peared through the ceiling and a sepulchral voice 
said, " I am coming." " Come along, I am not 
afraid/' said the occupant of the room. Slowly the 
body descended, stopped and knocked repeatedly 
and was as repeatedly challenged to come on, until, 
at the final challenge, the body was hanging by the 
neck alone, the head only having failed to appear. 



HAITI 89 

At last the head being released, the body dropped, 
and there stood before the man a giant negro. 
" Follow me," said the negro. The man followed 
to the corner of another room, where, pointing to 
the ground, the ghost said, " Dig." Digging, the 
man unearthed a buried treasure of gold. 
" There," said the ghost, " I am satisfied and can 
rest. My master made me bury that gold there 
and then killed me, so that I could tell no one where 
it was. Ever since my death I have been trying 
to tell somebody, but all were afraid. Now I shall 
rest and you have the gold as a reward for your 
fearlessness." Mr. Hyson believed the story so 
implicitly that he could not understand my in-» 
credulity. " What evidence have you that it is 
true?" I asked. "Why," he said, "everybody 
knows it." " Did the man tell you himself ? " 
" No, but he was poor before and is rich now, and 
everybody knows that that is the way he got his 
money." 

The ghost stories are, of course, superstitious 
fancies of the untutored mind. With the witch 
doctors, however, the case is different. I have 
wondered if their principal power did not lie in 
hypnotism; and possibly in the knowledge of the 
toxic effect of some powerful drug extracted from 
the herbs they gather. At any rate, the subject is 
worth studying. How did these unlettered Afri- 
cans gain this ascendency over the rest of their race 
in this Island, and cause, even otherwise intelligent 



90 CEUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

people, to believe in their power? The sorcerers 
were looked upon as the professional poisoners. 
Did a man wish to secure a government position, 
or, having secured one, did he wish advance, he 
would visit the witch doctor and enlist his services. 
But first he must himself be initiated into the mys- 
teries of voodooism. It is said that the " supreme 
sacrifice " (that of a human child) is made during 
these initiations and the body eaten. The children 
stolen for this purpose are drugged and kept in a 
dazed state until the time of the event. The Hai- 
tians tell me that this cannibalism is indulged in 
for the purpose of compromising the man who 
employs the witch doctor to poison his enemy or 
aid him in his own advancement. Having partaken 
with the sorcerer in the crime of cannibalism he 
would not dare to report him to the authorities or 
work against him. 

Some of the more enlightened presidents of 
Haiti tried to stamp out voodooism, enacting very 
stringent laws against its practices. These laws 
became, however, of no effect, some of the later 
presidents being great believers themselves, and 
followed the practices of the cult. The wife of one 
of them was a famous sorceress, holding voodoo 
seances in the National Palace. 

As far as I can learn, literature does not record 
very faithfully or extensively these popular beliefs 
of Haiti. It would be well worth while for some- 
one to master the native Patois and in the in- 



HAITI 91 

terests of literature, psychology and folk-lore, re- 
cord these creations of the African mind before 
they disappear from the face of the earth with ad- 
vancing civilization. 

The study of the language of the country people 
of Haiti, the Patois is not without interest; and 
its acquisition is not difficult for one who has al- 
ready made a study of French or for one who has 
a good ear. It is very simple and has few gram- 
matical forms. Some form of the French verb is 
chosen, generally the past participle, and there is 
no change in this form for number, person, or 
tense; the latter being expressed by adverbs of 
time. For example, the English equivalent for 
past, present, and future of the verb " to work " 
in this style of speech would be, " I work yester- 
day," " I work to-day," " I work to-morrow." 
The pronoun " li " stands for all the forms of 
" he," " she," and " it." It would seem that the 
newly arrived African adopted of the language of 
his French masters the words as they sounded to 
him. There have crept into the language also 
many words of Spanish origin. Thus in the 
Patois of Haiti the word for an tgg is " zeu," 
a corruption of the French " les oeufs." The 
word " cob " used for a cent, comes from the Span- 
ish word "cobre" copper, "rapadou" brown sugar 
is a corruption of the Spanish " raspadura." While 
there is no doubt that " gourde," the name given 
the national monetary standard, is a one-syllabled 



92 CKUSADING IN THE WEST IOT)IES 

corruption of the Spanish words "peso gordo." 
Everyone who learns to read in Haiti learns 
French, and it would seem a pity to perpetuate the 
Patois to the extent of publishing books in it. Its 
study, however, is not without human interest and 
I trust will appeal, together with the study of voo- 
dooism and folk-lore, to some of our American 
scholars. 

When, the day of my arrival, after having run 
the risk of upsetting our coach or breaking the 
springs several times in getting into and out of the 
holes in the streets, we arrived at the Methodist 
parsonage, I asked the black woman who came to 
the door, Si M. he Pasteur y etait, she replied in 
English accompanied by the unmistaken accent of 
Jamaica, that Mr. Turnbull was up-stairs and 
would soon be down. 

While waiting for Mr. Turnbull a small boy 
came running up with a very neatly folded note 
addressed to me in a handwriting which was really 
a marvel of a chirographic acquisition. With an 
added feeling of personal importance at being ad- 
dressed in this manner so soon after my arrival, I 
opened the note. It was an elegantly worded appeal 
from a person with whose name I was unfamiliar 
for a "Petite gratification" or, in plain English, a 
"little tip. ,, As I stood puzzling as to why I 
should be approached in this manner, Mr. Turnbull 
came in and explained. The note was from the 
customs official who had passed my baggage. Mr. 



HAITI 93 

Turnbull was indignant that a guest of his should 
be troubled so soon. When I learned that such 
officials received no salary, but were dependent for 
their continued existence upon what they could 
get out of the travelling and trading public, I 
didn't have the same scruples against sending the 
petite gratification. 

Were it not for the tragedy of it, the govern- 
ment of Haiti under the old regime would have 
been a screaming farce. Officials paid themselves 
from the funds received. 

A passport was necessary in order to be able to 
purchase a ticket to leave the country. I would 
like to take the reader with me on a trip to secure 
this paper. First we go to the municipal building 
to secure the preliminary police permit. A rusty 
rifle is leaning across the door of entrance. You 
are for stepping over and passing on; but, no! 
Haiti is under martial law. A half -starved, dirty, 
ragged, unkempt, barefoot negro boy soldier is on 
guard, sitting in the dirt near by ; or, if he has gone 
away for the moment, the gun is on guard, and 
you must wait till it is removed before you can 
pass into the presence of the functionaries within. 
We pass through a large room in which are loung- 
ing several equally disreputable looking repre- 
sentatives of the army. Take off your hat imme- 
diately, otherwise one will be sure to bellow out, 
from under his own dirty cap, trying to make up 
for his youthful appearance by the sonorousness, 



94 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

fierceness and apparent anger of his voice: "Qui 
oo Blanc, pa quitter chapeauf " (" Who are you, 
white man, that you do not take off your hat? ") 
The dignity and sovereignty of Haiti must be re- 
spected by all foreigners. 

Smilingly we comply with the not unkind, 
though slightly irritating injunction; and, remov- 
ing our hats, pass to the desk of the clerk who 
writes out for us a form of application on a sheet 
of stamped paper that we have been careful to pro- 
cure beforehand. After giving a few cents to the 
man of the quill for his trouble, we pass on to the 
office of the chief of police, an officer very much 
impressed with his own importance. This man 
will probably send us word that he is busy at pres- 
ent and will see us at a certain hour the next day ; 
or will ask us to call again in the afternoon. He 
may possibly condescend to take the paper and tell 
us to call for it later. It would, however, be entirely 
beneath his dignity to sign a permit at once and let 
you proceed about your business. No, no, he must 
delay you long enough so that you also will be fully 
impressed with his powers, and your dependence 
upon his consent to leave the city. 

After obtaining the police permit, without 
which a passport cannot be secured, we repair to 
the offices of the Minister of War. Here a clerk 
fills out the form of a passport; when, after con- 
tributing to his personal support, " anything you 
wish," we present ourselves at the door of the office 



HAITI 95 

of the chief functionary, the Minister of War of 
the Republic of Haiti. He may be in the inner 
office apparently reading, or smoking and chatting 
with a friend. At any rate he sends out word for 
us to call at two o'clock the next day. 

We call at the appointed hour, but his worship is 
busy and sends word for us to call the next day. 
The following day he sees us, takes the unsigned 
passport and tells us to call for it the next day. 
Calling as directed, as we supposed for the last 
time, he tells us with apparent chagrin that he took 
the documents home with him together with other 
papers to be signed. He is sorry. He will bring 
them when he comes to the office in the afternoon. 

Nearly a week has passed since we began nego- 
tiations to secure the passports, thinking we had 
plenty of time. Our boat sails in an hour and the 
steamship agent will not sell us a ticket, nor will 
the police allow us to depart without these official 
evidences that we have permission of the proper 
authorities to do so. Upon our statement of the 
case his worship seems to become concerned in our 
interest. His home is too far out for him to be 
able to send and get the passports in time. He 
will send a soldier with us to tell the steamship 
agent that the passports have been signed and there 
will be no trouble. 

We depart, rather doubtfully, with the soldier, 
who is all puffed up with the importance of his 
message. Just as we had expected, upon our ar- 



96 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

rival at the ticket office, the agent refuses to break 
the law with no further assurance that he is author- 
ized to do so than the word of a private soldier. 
If the Minister of War will come to the office and 
tell him that he has a signed passport for us in his 
desk at home he will sell us a ticket under protest. 
Nothing remains to be done but to hire a coach and 
drive again with all speed back to the Ministry, 
upon what proves to be the last of our many visits 
to Haitian officialdom in our attempts to secure 
this particular passport. 

Of course the Minister will come to the office or 
do anything else to oblige us ; and says, " Go along 
back to the steamship office. I will order my horse 
and be there before you." Somewhat doubtingly 
we start back to the office. In a little while, how- 
ever, true to his word, the Minister of War of the 
Republic of Haiti, in a uniform decked with yards 
upon yards of gold braid, comes riding down the 
street on a gaudily caparisoned stallion and, accom- 
panied by his aide, dismounts in front of the steam- 
ship office. Entering, he pompously asks why the 
agent had not acceded to his request and sold us a 
ticket, since the passport had been granted. 

" But," replies the agent, " I could not accept the 
word of a private soldier on a matter so impor- 
tant." 

" Quite right, quite right ; but their passports 
have been granted and I have them locked up in 
ray desk at home. You can sell them their tickets." 



HAITI 97 

" Certainly, with pleasure," replies the agent, 
" now that you command it ; but the proceeding is 
irregular and your own word was necessary." 

Turning to us, the Minister is profuse in his 
wishes that we may have a pleasant trip and be 
able before long to do his country the honor of an- 
other visit. We, on our part, express our thank- 
fulness to him for coming to our assistance. We 
tell him that Haiti is a delightful country and that 
we hope to return. We then hasten to the dock to 
bargain with the boatmen to take us, together with 
our baggage, out to the steamer, lying half a mile 
from shore, and impatiently blowing its whistle to 
hasten the completing of the formalities connected 
with filling out the final sailing papers. 

Soon we are weighing anchor and another visit 
to the only land in the Western World where black 
reigns supreme and mere white man is made to feel 
his petty insignificance is brought to a close. 

All of the details just described, with the excep- 
tion of the visit of the Minister of War to the 
steamship office, were a necessary concomitant to 
any visit to Haiti. No description of mine, how- 
ever, can give an adequate conception of the real 
situation. I learned in later visits to begin activi- 
ties connected with securing a passport out of the 
Island immediately upon arrival. 

We were not in Haiti, however, on a pleasure 
trip; but to study conditions and to set forces at 
work that should make for bringing to its people 



98 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

the message contained in the Book of Books. The 
great poverty of the people was everywhere evi- 
dent. A greatly depreciated currency was in cir- 
culation. I found that a day's wage in the Capital 
was equivalent to about ten cents in American 
money. We immediately reduced the selling prices 
of our French Bibles to a fraction of their cost in 
order that, in Haiti as in America, a day's wage 
would pay for a Bible. 

Long shall I remember my first visit to Port-au- 
Prince; and the visits of the years that followed 
have left bright spots in my memory; not because 
of the pleasantness of the sojourn from a physical 
standpoint but because of the hearty welcome ac- 
corded me by the groups of Protestant workers 
throughout the Island. So few are those that are 
laboring in this American Africa and so small and 
isolated are the bands of believers who are fighting 
the powers of darkness and evil that surround them 
that they appreciate to the full the visit of every 
representative from the outside world who comes 
into their midst. 



VI 
HAITI (Continued) 

AS Haiti was always under martial law, no 
description of it would be complete with- 
out a reference to its army, the soldiery of 
which was always in evidence. For the most part 
they were a dirty, unkempt lot of boys and young 
men, whose uniform consisted of a dilapidated 
military cap and a ragged coat and trousers. Their 
meagre allowance of ten cents a week was scarcely 
ever paid; even this small amount being stolen 
from them by their superior officers. 

For food they were dependent entirely upon 
what they could pick up at odd jobs, beg or steal, 
in the communities where they were located. One 
of the most common sights was that of a soldier 
squatting before a small fire of sticks, boiling, in 
a tomato can, a sweet potato or an ear of corn ; all 
that he had been able to secure for his one cooked 
meal that day. Whenever one met a soldier in the 
road or on the street one expected to hear " Bate 
m 3 cinq cob " (" Give me five cents ") ; and, taking 
into consideration that five cents was worth less 
than one cent American money, one always felt like 
conceding the request. 

99 



100 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

How were these soldiers recruited? They were 
secured in the same manner as their forefathers 
were captured by slave raiders and brought to the 
Island. There were no volunteers among them. 
One often met recruiting officers coming along a 
trail driving before them groups of men with their 
hands tied behind their backs, taking them to Port- 
au-Prince or some other town to make soldiers of 
them. In times of revolution these men, brought 
in from the country, would be thrown in prison 
and kept there until enough were captured to form 
a company. Meanwhile, their friends brought 
them food. Is it any wonder that few men were 
in evidence in the country; and that in times of 
revolution especially, all the men were in hiding? 
I have travelled from early morning until late at 
night across the peninsula from Jacmel to Leogane 
without seeing a single man, though the country is 
thickly inhabited. 

On my last trip to Aux Cayes on board the 
steamship Pr'dsident, our boat which was licensed 
to carry 184, passengers and crew, took on 800 
men that had been brought in from the mountains 
by the Government raiders. They were herded 
like cattle on the lower deck, just as they had been 
seized in their native mountains. Among them 
were men of all ages, from boys of thirteen and 
fourteen, to toothless, white-haired old men. 
When I arrived at Port-au-Prince this time, I 
found that all able-bodied men, whatever their oc- 




HAITIAN SOLDIERS ON THE MARCH. 
CORNER OF PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI, MARKET SQUARE. 



HAITI 101 

cupation or profession, were required to sleep in 
the soldiers' barracks at night, where the army of- 
ficials could keep their eye on them. In such times 
as this, work by our colporters was difficult. How- 
ever, ordinarily we could always secure a permit 
from the military authorities for a man to sell 
Bibles. This permit, however, he must always 
carry with him to show when required. Other- 
wise he might be arrested and dragged into the 
army. 

In times of peace, all night long the cries of the 
soldiers, engaged in sentinel duty, could be heard 
in the streets of Port-au-Prince; many of the 
young boys frightened, I suppose, at being alone, 
shouting out to keep themselves company. Walk- 
ing after dark in the unlighted streets of the 
Capital, one was sure to be accosted every few 
blocks by the words "Qui oof" from some dark 
corner. This was meant for " Who are you ? " or 
the "Qui vive" of the French. If no attention 
was paid to the first challenge a second would fol- 
low with a yell of rage intended to terrify by its 
fierceness. Our reply was " Etranger" (a 
stranger). "Au large etranger" ("Go along 
stranger"), would be the mollified response, fol- 
lowed by a still milder, appealing, " Baie m* cinq 
cob" (" Give me five cents") which one had not 
the heart to resist. 

Reveille came at four in the morning. After 
that hour soldiers paraded the streets with their 



102 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

instruments of noise, making such a hullabaloo that 
sleep was impossible. They, however, seemed 
greatly to enjoy the experience. It was their one 
happy hour after the long night was over. 

Haiti has a unique way of treating its prisoners, 
whether criminal or political. They are never fed, 
but are dependent entirely upon food brought them 
by relatives and friends. In cases where no friends 
appear to bring food, the prisoner is sent out, under 
guard, to beg his bread. When the soldiers were 
sent to arrest a man, in case he could not be found, 
they would arrest his wife and small children, and 
hold them until the man gave himself up. I have 
seen women in the jails of Haiti herded in the 
common room with the men. Not only the women 
but the jail officials also, have told me they were 
being held because their husbands could not be 
found. 

Haiti boasted in a model constitution, but was 
never governed by it. It was always a military 
dictatorship. The life of every Haitian was at the 
disposal of the president, who frequently could not 
read, and over whom the witch doctors had gained 
an ascendency. Summary executions were com- 
mon. Men, frequently the best in the land, those 
who had acquired an education and were so ad- 
vanced in their views that the president was afraid 
of their influence, were called out of bed at night, 
taken to the cemetery, shot and buried without any 
form of trial. On one of my visits to Haiti after 



HAITI 103 

a new president had been installed as a result of a 
successful revolution, I asked if there had been any 
summary executions. " Not yet," replied a person 
who had known the country for many years, and 
then added, " We say, not yet, because sooner or 
later they always come. ,, 

As with the ignorant elsewhere, the ignorant 
Haitian cannot stand being in authority. I once 
saw a soldier arrest a poor country boy. As the 
soldier was taking him along the street to jail the 
boy cried aloud repeatedly, " I have done nothing. 
What have you arrested me for? Why do you 
take me to jail when I have done nothing? " Irri- 
tated at his cries, the soldier set upon him and beat 
him into insensibility. In spite of its great natu- 
ral beauty and its political liberty, Haiti has been a 
land of darkness, bloodshed and oppression. 

The groups of Protestant believers found 
throughout the Island are really a very remarkable 
people. The Haitian takes his religion seriously. 
There is absolutely none of the hysterical emotion 
that is witnessed in so many of the negro churches 
in America. At the many baptisms I have wit- 
nessed, none of those baptized have come out of 
the water shouting, as is customary with the negro 
in our Southern States. His religion means so 
much to him that the Haitian is very earnest and 
serious-minded about it. 

In spite, however, of the lack of show and ex- 
pressed emotion, the convert in Haiti is a very 



104 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

happy individual. When travelling one can often 
tell the Protestant converts by their happy faces. 
The fact is, their belief in Jesus and in His power 
to free them from evil, is such a complete emanci- 
pation from the thralls of superstition that they 
cannot help being joyful. 

Along with his fellow islanders, the converted 
Haitian usually believes in the power of the witch 
doctors and in the potency of evil spirits. To him 
both are realities. On the other hand, he believes 
that the Saviour, in whom his trust is, is able to 
save, and does deliver him from the power of the 
evil which the sorcerer can exercise, as well as 
from the power of malignant spirits that inhabit 
certain trees and plants, and from the evil designs 
of the spirits of the departed dead. He is not only 
saved from eternal death hereafter, but from the 
powers of evil in this life. Here is the secret of 
his happiness. In a country where evil men are 
objects of terror because of the supernatural 
powers they are supposed to possess, where trees 
and plants are the dwelling-places of malevolent 
spirits, where the dead return to trouble the living, 
and where there is no other hope for salvation 
from these fears, the liberty brought to the soul by 
belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is a very real thing 
indeed. The sorcerers themselves acknowledge 
that their spells have no power over the Protes- 
tants. 

Jacmel has the largest and most active Protestant 



HAITI 105 

community in Haiti. The congregation was build- 
ing a new church. A voodooist had become con- 
verted. This man had on his property a tree that 
had been the object of worship for two hundred 
years and no one knows how much longer. It was 
very large, and would furnish just the lumber 
needed for the doors of the church. The owner 
offered it to the pastor for the purpose. On a day 
appointed the members of the church went to cut 
down and saw up the tree. No one else could be 
induced to touch it. People came from miles 
around to look on while those adventurous Prot- 
estants proceeded to fell this monarch of the forest 
that had for so long been an object of superstitious 
regard as the abode of powerful spirits that re- 
quired constant propitiation. The people verily 
expected some dire calamity to befall the little band 
because of their temerity. 

The tree fell. None of the expected calamities 
came to pass. It was cut into the lumber which 
to-day forms the doors and enters into the wood- 
work of the Jacmel church. The voodooists had 
to confess that their charms and magic had no ef- 
fect upon the Protestants. Because of this fear- 
less attitude of the converts, the sorcerers all over 
Haiti admit that the Protestants are beyond their 
reach and that charms and magic will not work 
against them. This appears to be an argument in 
favor of the power exercised by them being in a 
measure hypnotic. In order to be able to gain and 



106 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

retain an ascendency in a subject for hypnotism, 
there must be a belief on his part in the power of 
the hypnotizer. The converts believing themselves 
to be emancipated from the power of the sorcerer, 
at once become so. The conversion, however, is 
none the less genuine, nor the spiritual freedom any 
the less real. 

Haiti was always like a dream; everything 
seemed so unreal. Was it possible that such a 
beautiful country, possessing so many natural ad- 
vantages, a country at one time settled and built 
up by the industrious French, could have become 
the abode of such horrors, such cruelty and such 
degradation? Was what I saw every day during 
my stay in Haiti real ? Were some of its inhabit- 
ants becoming emancipated from these horrors and 
from this degradation by the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ? Were these little groups of faithful Chris- 
tians, who were struggling alone against the 
powers of darkness everywhere around them, car- 
rying on their unequal struggle without the help of 
America? Was it impossible to make generous 
America look, see, feel, and act to help, not only the 
native Christians in their attempt to emancipate 
their fellows from the slavery of superstition; but 
to help the whole people to free themselves from a 
regime of oppression and bloodshed worse than 
slavery ? I must have appeared more ghostly than 
real on my visits to the Board rooms of the various 
Missionary Societies in New York, pleading with 



HAITI 107 

them to answer the prayer of the struggling 
churches in Haiti and to send them help in their 
time of need. At any rate, up to the present, the 
response has been very ethereal indeed, having 
failed to materialize. 

How about Bible distribution, which was the 
purpose for which I had visited the Island ? With 
the exception of the inhabitants of Guadeloupe, 
mentioned later, I never saw people more eager to 
buy the Bible. No representatve of the American 
Bible Society had visited the Island for several 
years; and we found little groups of believers in 
many places who needed Bibles for their own use. 
Besides these there were some persons in almost 
every neighborhood who could read and who were 
glad to buy the Bible. Many, I am sure, purchased 
because of a superstitious belief that the Bible 
would act as a charm to ward off calamity from 
their home. Everywhere, Bibles, Testaments, 
Gospels, especially the latter, were sold — thousands 
of them. 

The customs of Haiti lend themselves to this 
kind of evangelistic work. In different parts of 
the Island there are market-places where the people 
are accustomed to meet on certain days for trade 
by barter. The inhabitants of the mountain dis- 
tricts bring their coffee, cacao, corn, eggs, chickens, 
casava, anything which they may have made or 
produced, to these markets. Thither also go mer- 
chants from the city, buyers on the small scale, 



108 CEUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

mostly women, with cloth, flour, needles, thread, 
pins, matches, cheap jewelry, beads, anything that 
a country woman might wish to buy in exchange 
for her produce. These markets are in the open 
air and are well attended. The women bring their 
produce and manufactured ware, lay it down beside 
the road and display it spread out or in heaps ; and 
squatting on their haunches behind the goods thus 
exposed to view, spend the day offering them to 
the passers-by. At these fairs we find exposed for 
sale many articles of peculiarly Haitian manufac- 
ture, such as fancy straw saddles for the donkeys, 
as well as immense panniers, large enough to take 
in the bottom of a barrel, hats of peculiar shape, 
baskets, and a thick rush mat which is used for a 
bed throughout Haiti, being spread on the floor at 
night and rolled up during the day, halters, ropes 
of native fiber, etc., etc. At these fairs we fre- 
quently sold large numbers of books. 

One Saturday I visited, in company with Mr. 
Jackson, the market of Thomazeau, not far from 
the Dominican border. Thomazeau is reached by 
rail from Port-au-Prince. We sold many books 
on the train and at the stations on the way. As 
soon as we arrived at the market square we found 
a woman who was so interested that she not only 
purchased a book herself but went along ahead of 
us telling everybody what we were selling and urg- 
ing them to buy. We soon sold out. The follow- 
ing Saturday, Mr. Jackson, encouraged by what we 



HAITI 109 

had done, returned to the same place. This time 
he had very poor success. The very same woman, 
having been so instructed by the priest, went ahead 
of him warning the people against the books of the 
heretic. This kind of opposition used to be com- 
mon all over Latin America but is now becoming 
rare in the West Indies. 

The principal exports of Haiti are coffee, dye- 
woods, and cacao ; the principal imports, cloth and 
wheat flour. Not much bread, however, is used in 
the interior, as the people depend mostly upon such 
substitutes as millet, the green plantain or banana, 
the yam, the sweet potato, and casava roots. Rice 
and beans are produced in small quantities. A 
mixture of rice and red beans goes by the name of 
the " national dish " in the restaurants of Port-au- 
Prince. The principal single article of import is 
blue denim, the cloth from which overalls are made 
in America. In Haiti this cloth is used almost ex- 
clusively for the every-day clothing of men, women 
and children. On market days the trails are liter- 
ally blue with people coming and going, clothed in 
this most durable fabric. One of the great regular 
markets, or fairs, is held in the mountains, ten 
miles inland from Port-au-Prince, on a treeless 
ridge between two higher ranges. This isolated 
market-place thronged with Haitians, dressed in 
blue, and bargaining their wares, is an interesting 
sight. 

Backward as Haiti is, she has discovered that 



110 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

Bible readers, those who profess to live by the 
principles laid down in the Book, are the only peo- 
ple to be depended upon; and these are the people 
whom we find occupying positions of trust all over 
the Island, whether in government employ or in 
the employ of private concerns. 

It is not rare to find instances of conversion 
through the reading of the Bible. The Methodist 
church of Jeremie was founded as the result of the 
work of a colporter of the British and Foreign 
Bible Society. A New Testament that he sold fell 
into the hands of the wife of a judge. The woman 
had lost confidence in the priests, because those of 
her acquaintance were bad men. As soon as she 
had begun to read the newly discovered Book she 
felt that she had at last found the Truth. The 
colporter had rented a room where he preached 
evenings. At first she stood outside and listened 
to his preaching and singing. After a few such 
visits she gathered courage to enter. She found 
Christ. Her husband followed her example and 
became the first native-born Methodist minister in 
Haiti. To-day members of that family are Prot- 
estants and occupying positions of trust in many 
places in the Island. 

The Rev. P. N. Lherisson, pastor of the Baptist 
church at Jacmel, was converted through the read- 
ing of a Bible borrowed from a friend. Mr. Lher- 
isson was the son of wealthy parents; had spent 
many years in France and England ; but, on return- 




H 



HAITI 111 

ing to the Island, had lost his all in one of the many 
revolutions. He was quite an artist and used to 
amuse himself painting. His caprice led him to 
conceive the idea of painting a picture of Christ 
and the woman at the well. He had never read 
the Bible. He therefore thought that in order to 
get the expression on the faces he had better read 
the original story and become imbued with the spirit 
of the narrative. He borrowed a Bible for this 
purpose. While reading he became converted and 
the subject became too sacred for him to attempt to 
put on canvas. The first time I met Mr. Lheris- 
son at his home in Jacmel, having just run ashore 
to spend a few hours while our steamer was un- 
loading and taking on freight in the Bay, he told 
me the story of his conversion and showed me the 
unfinished picture. 

I The Sunday following his conversion, in com- 
pany with a lifelong friend and companion, Dr. 
-Nerva Gousse, Mr. Lherisson attended the service 
held by an English missionary in the little Baptist 
chapel. Hitherto the services had been quite poorly 
attended by lowly people only. The missionary, 
seeing these two young men of the better class 
come in, feared some trouble, and asked them 
rather hesitatingly what they wanted. " The 
truth," replied Mr. Lherisson. Not quite reas- 
sured that the young men were not up to some mis- 
chief, or were not there to spy upon him for the 
government, the missionary went on with the serv- 



112 CEUSADING IH THE WEST INDIES 

ice. Shortly after this the two young men joined 
the church. 

Later, when the English missionary was obliged 
to leave the Island, Mr. Lherisson was ordained in 
order to be able to care for the small and strug- 
gling congregation. Dr. Gousse has always been 
his most faithful deacon, assistant preacher, and 
loyal supporter of every enterprise undertaken by 
the church. Under the leadership of Mr. Lheris- 
son, the Baptist church at Jacmel has become the 
largest and most successful missionary church in 
the West Indies. During his residence abroad he 
had acquired a business education, and is consecrat- 
ing every bit of his time and inexhaustible energy 
to the work of evangelizing and elevating his own 
people. It has been my privilege to be a guest in 
his home and see him at his work. Rising between 
four and five o'clock in the morning, every hour of 
the day is filled with the King's business until he 
retires at night. 



VII 
HAITI (Continued) 

AS a result of the consecrated activities 
of their energetic pastor, the Jacmel 
church has established twelve outstations, 
the most distant of which is seven and a half hours, 
by horseback, from Jacmel. — This is the way dis- 
tances are spoken of in that part of Haiti. Pastor 
Lherisson himself teaches at some one of these 
outstations every Sunday morning, returning to 
Jacmel to preach at night. This gives the home 
church a weekly preaching service and the out- 
stations a visit from the pastor once a quarter. 
The last Sunday in the quarter Mr. Lherisson 
spends the whole day in Jacmel. This is com- 
munion Sunday and the church members from all 
the countryside flock to the central church, filling 
the building to its utmost capacity and producing 
a splendid impression upon the inhabitants of the 
town. 

Besides the church work, the pastor and his wife 
with the assistance of Miss Page, an English lady, 
a self-supporting missionary worker, conduct a 
school, which is recognized as the best in the city. 
The church has also established several primary 

"3 



114 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

schools in the mountains at the various mission 
points. Here some member of the community, 
who knows how to read, is employed to teach the 
converts and their children to read the Bible and 
solve simple problems in arithmetic. Mr. Lheris- 
son does not believe in preaching the Gospel with- 
out following it up with sufficient education, at 
least, to enable the convert to read the Bible. The 
Bibles for this work are supplied by the American 
Bible Society. 

On one of my trips I went with this remarkable 
man to visit his farthest outpost. It lay directly on 
my road over the mountains from Jacmel to 
Leogane, which latter town I was to visit also on 
my way to Port-au-Prince. The mule I rode was 
lent me by Dr. Nerva Gousse, who always gave 
me a warm welcome to Jacmel, because of his 
enthusiastic belief in the work of Bible distribu- 
tion. 

Dr. Gousse is the leading lay citizen of Jacmel. 
I was in the town at the time of the revolution that 
overthrew President Simon. From whispering 
group to whispering group, the news circulated that 
the president had been defeated by the revolution- 
ist, Le Conte, and had retreated to the Capital. 
When the rumor was verified, the citizens of 
Jacmel waited on Dr. Gousse and asked him to 
become governor of the city, till such time as the 
central government should be reestablished in Port- 
au-Prince. In this way bloodshed was avoided, 



HAITI 115 

quiet maintained, and Jacmel had no part in the 
revolution. The Doctor's use of the position amply 
justified the confidence placed in him by his fellow 
citizens. After the revolution was over he retired 
to private life. 

It was late Saturday afternoon when we started 
out along the trail leading up the stream which 
emptied into the sea at Jacmel. This path we 
were to follow until the river became a mere 
rivulet. Then, leaving the stream we were to 
proceed to the top of Gros Morne (Big Mountain), 
where the Sunday service was to be held. Word 
had been sent ahead that we were coming and that 
we would spend the night at the home of one of the 
deacons living near the road. Just before arriving 
at the deacon's house, we visited the little chapel 
which houses the nearest outstation of the Jacmel 
church. The building was erected by the believers 
of the locality and the material and carpenter work 
were largely their own contribution. The mason 
who laid the foundation was converted shortly 
after the completion of the building. 

A service had been announced to be held at the 
home of the deacon. I gave a short talk on the 
importance of putting the service of God first in 
the life of the individual and of the nation, illus- 
trating some of the benefits to be derived from His 
service. At the close of my talk, Mr. Lherisson 
said : " We can see the difference here since the 
Gospel has been preached and we have begun to 



116 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

study the Bible. Can we not?" A toothless, 
white-haired old woman in the back of the room 
jumped up quickly and said, putting her fingers 
first to her eyes and then to her ears, suiting the ac- 
tion to the word: "Anyone who has eyes to see with 
and ears to hear with, can see the difference in this 
valley since the Gospel came here. There are no 
more voodoo dances; no more drunkenness; no 
more fighting; but peace and quiet and good-will 
have come." 

Long before daylight the following morning, we 
again " hit the trail " that led to the top of the 
mountain. It was a delightfully bright, starry 
morning, the prelude to a bright, hot day; cool, 
however, at this altitude. The air was filled with 
the delicious fragrance of the beautiful coffee blos- 
soms. By getting this early start we would reach 
the top of the mountain in time for a morning 
service early enough to allow the pastor to return 
to Jacmel for the evening. 

At daylight we came up with a barefooted 
preacher on his way to another of the outstations, 
where he was to preach, and teach the Sunday- 
school lesson that he had been studying throughout 
the week with the pastor. This man was carrying 
a large baked sweet potato in his pocket for lunch. 
After going along with us for a short distance, he 
struck off up the valley of a small stream that 
joined the one we were following. A little further 
on we overtook two girls, ten and sixteen years of 



HAITI 117 

age, who were walking to the services we were to 
attend. Very happy they were to have the company 
of the pastor and they kept pace with us until we 
arrived at the point where the service was held. 
Towards the last of the journey the path became so 
steep that we walked, or, rather, climbed, leading 
our mules rather than make them carry us. 

Arrived at the top of the mountain, we came in 
sight of the beautiful bay at the head of which 
Port-au-Prince is located. In the distance lay the 
Isle of Gonave in its setting of azure, and over- 
looking the lower ranges, the eye rested on the 
fertile plain of Leogane. Here, in view of a sight 
worth coming hundreds of miles to see, the believers 
had formed a shelter of poles and boughs to pro- 
tect them from the sun. We found quietly waiting 
a congregation of people who had been expecting, 
not their pastor, but simply one of the deacons to 
address them and teach the lesson for the day. 

I was more than surprised at the presence of so 
many mountain folk. I was particularly pleased 
with the attention with which they followed the 
address of the pastor and the intelligence with 
which they listened to my simple explanation of 
the American Bible Society and its work. There 
were two hundred and ninety-five people present. 
They were counted by a simple expedient. I asked 
the pastor how many people he thought there were. 

" We can easily find out," he said, and, raising 
his voice asked everyone present to bring one peb- 



118 CRUSADING IK THE WEST INDIES 

ble and drop it in his hand. All responded, bring- 
ing to him two hundred and ninety-five pebbles. 
Never, in any land, have I been present at a more 
orderly or more impressive service than this one 
held on the summit of Gros Morne, an extreme out- 
post, as it were, of the kingdom in the interior of 
Haiti. 

Mr. Lherisson was obliged to leave immediately 
after the close of the service in order to return to 
Jacmel for the evening. I proceeded, however, in 
company with some of the worshippers who were 
going my way. All that beautiful afternoon I con- 
tinued my journey with them. 

From our starting point, six thousand feet above 
sea level, we could see over the tops of the inter- 
vening mountain ranges on to the plain of Leogane, 
said to be the most productive spot in Haiti. Be- 
yond lay the cool waters of the Caribbean with the 
Island of Gonave in the distance. I had viewed 
these mountains before, from the sea, when the 
point where I stood was indistinct in the haze and 
the mountains appeared as though forest-covered. 
My impressions then had been that the greater part 
of the intervening space was in forest. This is, 
however, not the case. On my first visit to Haiti, 
an Englishman, who ought to have known better, 
said to me : " The Haitians do not plant anything. 
They simply harvest that which grows of itself." 
During this trip I came to realize how far from 
the truth this statement was. The land in this part 



HAITI 119 

of Haiti has all been parcelled out into small hold- 
ings and practically every foot of it is under culti- 
vation. 

Coffee is the great money crop of the Island. 
This is grown almost everywhere; and the coffee 
bush, together with the shade trees that are planted 
to protect it, fills the valleys of the mountain 
streams for a certain distance up their sides. 
Higher up begin the plots of corn, sweet potatoes, 
etc., while on the tops of the mountains and hills 
between us and the sea a crop of millet is growing. 
Every part of the mountains in this section of 
Haiti is under cultivation. Fields of millet and 
corn are to be seen growing on slopes so steep that 
one wonders how the workers possibly manage to 
maintain a foothold while doing the labor of plant- 
ing, weeding and harvesting. 

There was quite a little company of us starting 
out on the trail down the mountainside, or rather, 
down the sides of the mountains; for there were 
the intervening ranges to cross. Our number, 
however, soon began to grow smaller; as, in ones 
and twos, and occasionally by whole families, they 
would leave the main trail and go to their homes 
on the mountainside. We passed a couple "Houn- 
forts " as the huts of the sorcerers are called. The 
Christians took great satisfaction in pointing these 
out to me and in telling me that, though they once 
feared these people and worshipped with them, 
they were now out of their power. 



120 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

At a few places, as people left our group, they 
would ask me to stop and see their homes. One 
couple wanted to give me a sturdy little girl of 
about eleven years of age to take to America; for 
they said she would be better off with me than 
with them. 

At one home there were a father, mother, and 
four children. The parents seemed so bright, 
happy and earnest that I asked them if they were 
church members, anticipating an answer in the 
affirmative. There was just a trace of sadness in 
the man's voice as he answered: 

" No, we are believers, but we are not married." 

Farther on we came to the house of Mr. Canusse 
Desir where I was to spend the night. A neighbor 
came bringing his children and their mother, that I 
might see them. Again I asked the same question 
and received the same reply: "No, we are not 
members, we are not married, we are believers 
only." 

Here is one of the great difficulties in the way 
of the moral uplift and Christianizing of Haiti. 
The Romish priests have charged so much for the 
marriage fee that it has been out of the question for 
a poor man to think of paying it. At the same 
time, although the laws of Haiti provide for a 
civil marriage, the priests have taught that to go 
through the form of civil marriage was wrong, 
worse than living together without any ceremony 
whatever. 



HAITI 121 

There are on the waiting list as prospective can- 
didates for membership in the Jacmel church about 
one thousand six hundred persons who have come 
to believe in Jesus Christ and to go by the name of 
believers. They are not members of the church 
and have no voice in its government. By far the 
greater number of these are being kept out because 
of their irregular marital relations. The reader 
will ask as I did: " Why do these converts not 
marry? " The principal reason is because the laws 
are such that in very many cases they cannot se- 
cure the necessary documents. A great deal of red 
tape has to be unwound and considerable informa- 
tion secured before a civil marriage can be per- 
formed. The certificates of birth of both parties 
must accompany the application and it is seldom 
that these can be secured. Then the certificates of 
birth of the children that have already resulted 
from the union are required. For people who have 
been living without paying any attention to such 
things, the securing of these becomes very difficult 
if not impossible. The longer the marriage has 
been put off the more the formalities that have to 
be gone through. There is some expense attached 
to each step of the process making the cost almost 
prohibitive. In some cases the Jacmel church has 
borne the expense in connection with securing the 
marriage papers, advancing the money to the par- 
ties as a loan to be paid back by installments. I 
understand that the church has a small sum that it 



122 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

is using for this purpose. As the amount advanced 
is paid back, other worthy applicants are helped in 
the same way. 

In the case of such couples as those referred to, 
the question will perhaps suggest itself to the 
reader as it did to me: "If these parties have been 
living together for years, have been faithful to each 
other, and are raising their children in the Chris- 
tian faith, they are husband and wife as truly as 
were Isaac and Rebecca. Why not receive them 
into membership? " The reply was: " The church 
wishes to set and maintain the highest standard of 
social relationship and can therefore admit to 
membership only such as are living in conformity 
to the laws of both God and man." 

The church, however, cannot advise the sepa- 
ration of these couples and the breaking up of the 
families. Withholding church membership cannot 
injure them. All the privileges of a Christian com- 
munity are theirs. They attend the church services, 
the Sunday schools are open to their children, and 
they contribute to the work of the church. On the 
other hand it would work injury to the church 
were they admitted ; for one irregularity being al- 
lowed it would be difficult to know where to draw 
the line. These couples admit the justice of the 
attitude taken by the church. Moreover, this 
stand has greatly helped in the uplift of the moral 
life of the community. 



VIII 

HAITI (Concluded) 

WE have slept in the native huts and in the 
open air, and have never carried arms. 
There has never been the least con- 
sciousness of personal danger from the attitude of 
the people. They were uniformly courteous and 
obliging. I was treated impolitely but once. 
When selling books for the first time in the market 
at Leogane, I approached a prosperous looking 
man and asked him if he would not like to make a 
purchase. He answered very gruffly, " No ; why 
are you, a white man, selling books here ? I want 
none of them." Unable to arrive at any conclusion 
as to why that particular person should have been 
angry with me I mentioned the matter to Mr. 
Turnbull the first time I saw him. " Did you say 
1 Good-day ' before offering the book? " asked Mr. 
Turnbull. I had not done so, and the man felt 
mortally offended. A group of men with surly 
looks may be discussing unfavorably the presence 
of the foreigner, when a smile and a cheery word 
from him will disarm suspicion and change the 
attitude of the whole group. They are as pleased 

123 



124 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

as children at being noticed and spoken to cheer- 
fully. 

One must always notice and say good-day to a 
fellow traveller, whether meeting or passing him 
on the road. On joining a group one should notice 
and pass a word of salutation with each member of 
the party, otherwise offense is likely to be taken. 

Mr. Delattre, of St. Marc, Haiti, who had come 
to understand the Patois, told me of visiting an 
acquaintance, a shoemaker in his shop. Two other 
men were present whom he did not go through the 
formality of addressing. During their conversa- 
tion the shoemaker was called away and my friend 
heard one of the two other Haitians who were in 
the shop say to his companion in Patois which he 
thought Mr. Delattre would not understand: "I 
would like to kill that man, cut out his heart and 
drink his blood." Surprised, Mr. Delattre ad- 
dressed him in Patois asking why he felt that en- 
mity towards him. The reply was "Oo pas di bon- 
jou" ("You did not say good-morning.") It took 
considerable explanation on the part of the French- 
man to obliterate the bad impression caused by 
what had been considered a direct insult. 

The last thing before retiring at night every 
member of the family shakes hands with every 
other member, as well as with any guests or friends 
present. They also shake hands again ail round 
when joining the family group in the morning. 
Children shake hands and present their cheeks to be 



HAITI 125 

kissed. In fact, whenever a friend visits a family 
this is the salutation for the children when greet- 
ing or being introduced. On my first visit to Port- 
au-Prince I accompanied Mr. Turnbull on some 
pastoral visits. He also called with me on some 
friends to whom he wished to introduce the repre- 
sentative of the American Bible Society. The chil- 
dren of the families visited would come and stand 
demurely near the door waiting till the preliminary 
salutations and remarks were over in order to be 
introduced to the pastor and the stranger. Then 
marching forward with smiling faces, the whites of 
their eyes sparkling, they would place their hands 
confidingly in ours, and at the same time present 
the cheek to be kissed. Noticing that the nearly 
grown girls of the family did the same thing, I said 
to Mr. Turnbull: " How do you know when to stop 
kissing the girls? " He replied: " When they stop 
presenting their cheeks on being introduced." A 
stranger can sometimes avoid noticing the children, 
or having noticed them, make some genial remark 
about or to them without offering to shake hands. 
But he is likely to appear somewhat awkward in so 
doing. One goes through the ordeal with as good 
grace as possible, thankful that they do not obey 
the Scriptural injunction and " offer the other 
cheek also." However, I must say I prefer the 
Haitian custom of kissing on the cheek to that fol- 
lowed by many Americans of kissing, and allowing 
children to be kissed, on the lips. 



126 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

But to return to our trip across the mountains: 
We arrived at Deslandes, the home of Mr. Desir, 
just before nightfall. Mr. Desir's house was the 
best in the hamlet, neatly whitewashed, having the 
yard and floors of the rooms of the house paved 
with cobblestones. Upon hearing of my arrival 
so many people came from the neighboring houses 
to see me that Mr. Desir asked if I would not ad- 
dress them. My French was lame, I knew very 
little Patois, and tried to refuse. Mr. Desir in- 
sisted that they had understood me in the morn- 
ing. But the case was quite different now. I then 
had Mr. Lherisson to fall back upon for words and 
expressions that I lacked. However, they were so 
anxious to have a service that I consented. 

Some hymn-books were forthcoming and two or 
three of those present were able to sing. After the 
hymn I read a passage of Scripture commenting on 
it as best I could. Realizing that the unlettered 
natives did not understand much French, I used 
such words of the dialect as I had learned on previ- 
ous visits to the Island and those which I had 
noticed Mr. Lherisson using in his conversation 
and sermons. They seemed to understand the gist 
of what I was trying to give them, and after the 
closing prayer, went to their homes. 

Mr. Desir sat up with me until late, telling of his 
conversion, and how the missionary work was 
progressing. While we were talking we could 
hear, in the mountains, the drum beats of the 



HAITI 127 

" papalois" calling the people to their midnight 
orgies. I retired at last realizing that this was the 
real Haiti. Haiti is not represented by the few in 
the cities that have received a European education ; 
nor by the officials strutting about in their gold 
braid. — There is a Haitian saying that in heaven 
the white man will want beer ; the mulatto, women ; 
but that the negro will be made happy with plenty 
of gold braid. The true Haiti is found in these 
mountains, among those simple-minded, honest, in- 
dustrious folk. They are as industrious as they 
can afford to be; for, what is the use of working 
hard to raise a large crop, only to have it stolen by 
a military officer ? 

One good resulting from the independence of 
Haiti was the division of the land into small hold- 
ings. Unfortunately, however, the owners of those 
small plots became practically slaves of the military 
chiefs, much as they had been of their French mas- 
ters, True, the military chief cannot sell them ; but 
he can take them by force into the army, and de- 
mand the best of their crops and animals ; or, take 
a daughter from her parents, in case he desires to 
make her his mistress. 

Living in constant fear of the emissaries of the 
government, and terrorized by their belief in the 
power of the sorcerer's magic, many are coming to 
realize that true liberty is to be found only in the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Everywhere they will 
flock by the hundreds to hear the preaching of 



128 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

the Gospel. It has been my privilege to journey 
from Jacmel on the south, through Port-au-Prince 
to Cape Haiti on the north; and everywhere I 
have been, crowds have come to listen whenever 
preaching has been announced. Our colporters, 
also, have found many people in all parts of the 
Republic ready to buy the Book. I had hardly ex- 
pected many sales of books in the country places; 
yet in almost every community there is someone, at 
least, who can read. People who are unable to 
read, buy the book and take it home, saying that 
they will get a neighbor to read it to them. Others 
who have children will buy so that when the chil- 
dren learn to read they can read the Book to them. 

Perhaps the most gratifying thing about Bible 
campaigning in Haiti was the stumbling upon little 
groups of Christians scattered throughout the 
mountains, among whom were no Bibles; or, if 
they possessed any, these were worn and tattered 
by constant handling. The ability to supply these 
isolated Christians with the Bible which they had 
been desiring so long was one of the constant joys 
of the work in these picturesque mountains. 

Awakened by Mr. Desir before daylight, I found 
that hot coffee and eggs had been prepared for my 
breakfast. A mule was ready, and also, a boy to 
accompany me to the town of Leogane where I 
was to take the train for Port-au-Prince. 

I shall not soon forget my first trip to Leogane, 
during my second visit to Haiti. Having heard of 



HAITI 129 

the work in Jacmel, I had decided to visit that town 
on this trip and was accompanied by Mr. Leon 
Hyson, who was working for the Society at this 
time. We hired horses in Port-au-Prince and 
started for Jacmel taking the road through Leo- 
gane. It was market day in Port-au-Prince; and 
large numbers of women were encountered on the 
road, going to trade at the market. We had taken 
with us five hundred Gospels of Luke, twenty 
Testaments, and twelve Bibles, thinking we would 
have an abundance for the trip across the peninsula. 
We began offering our books for sale shortly after 
leaving the Capital. The eagerness with which 
they were bought was a surprise to me. There 
were so many opportunities to sell and so many of 
the people took up our time showing the books, that 
instead of arriving at noon, it was nightfall when 
we reached Leogane. On counting up, we found 
we had sold all of our Bibles and Testaments and 
a little more than one hundred Gospels. We sent 
a man back to Port-au-Prince for more books and 
by the time he returned we had sold all our re- 
maining Gospels. Mr. Turnbull sent us by this 
man another five hundred Gospels, one hundred 
and fifty Testaments, and twenty more Bibles. We 
remained three days in Leogane and sold every 
book. Having no books left for the journey to 
Jacmel, we returned to Port-au-Prince. 

Travelling in Haiti one needs to be careful of the 
source of his drinking water. On one of my early 



130 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

trips out from Port-au-Prince with one of our 
workers, we passed a small stream of swiftly run- 
ning water, in which as far up and down as we 
could see, women were doing the laundry of the 
city. The colporter stopped and drank from the 
stream. Although very thirsty, I waited until we 
had passed some distance further on ; when, seeing 
a house which bore every evidence of the prosper- 
ity of its occupants, I thought it would probably 
be safe to ask for a drink and did so. The lady of 
the house brought one of those porous, long-necked 
jars that keep the water so cool because of the 
evaporation. The water looked so clear and tasted 
so good that I asked for another glass and after 
drinking asked where she got such excellent water. 
She pointed back to the stream we had just passed, 
and from which I had refused to drink, saying: 
" From the river back there." That settled the 
matter for me. I decided to drink no more water 
in Haiti if I could help it. There was a splendid 
substitute to be had from the cocoanut overhead. 
The young cocoanut shell, when the meat has just 
begun to form, is filled with a refreshing liquid, 
slightly sweet and agreeable to the taste. These 
cocoanuts could be had in any quantity for about 
one cent each in American money. For this price 
the natives would climb the tree, cut down the nut, 
and cutting off the top with a machete, make a hole 
so that it could be drunk from the shell. In this 
and subsequent trips, the first thing I would do on 



HAITI 131 

arriving at a new town would be to purchase some 
cocoanuts, thereby assuring my water supply. 

The Protestant work in Leogane is being con- 
ducted by Mr. Ledoux Paraison, a native Episcopal 
pastor. I found the congregation struggling along 
trying to build their own church. The members 
were making contributions of material, labor and 
money. Little by little, on my visits to the place, 
I saw the church go up, until the walls were ready 
for the putting on of the roof. I understand that 
money has since been contributed from America 
for the completion of the building. The efforts 
they were putting forth to help themselves surely 
justified this action on the part of the friends in 
America. 

When I first visited Leogane there were many 
believers who did not have Bibles, though they had 
been taught to read through the efforts of Mr. 
Paraison and his fellow workers. The congrega- 
tion took our coming as a God-send. For years 
they had not had sufficient Bibles. Visiting the 
Island about a year after this first trip by myself 
and Mr. Hyson, I went over to Leogane again to 
see Mr. Paraison. When I appeared at the door of 
the house his mother recognized me and running, 
threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. 
This enthusiastic and affectionate reception was 
greatly appreciated as it showed that I had found 
my way into the hearts of the people of Haiti as 
representative of the American Bible Society. 



132 CKUfeABING IN THE WEST INDIES 

A Hindu proverb runs: "Chiragh ke niche and- 
hem." ("Under the candle there is darkness.") 
This has come to my mind over and over again in 
thinking of Haiti. We equip and send out mis- 
sionaries to Africa, India, China, and completely 
overlook this little piece of Africa with its million 
and a half of inhabitants right at our very doors. 
Haiti has been left very much to herself to work 
out her own salvation during the last hundred years 
of missionary effort. The little contact she has had 
with white people has not, on the whole, been help- 
ful. 

The trade of the Island has been largely in the 
hands of German merchants. In these stores the 
native clerks are taught to cheat their own people. 
Not only were the poor women who brought in 
coffee for sale cheated in weight, but the cloth, 
sugar and flour they took back to the mountains 
were short in measure and weight. Is it any won- 
der that in trying to get even, the Haitians mix 
pebbles in the coffee to increase the weight and that 
it must all be picked over before it is fit for the 
European market ? 

These foreign merchants were at the bottom of 
many of the revolutions. During a revolution the 
government needed gold in order to purchase war 
supplies and Haitian currency immediately depre- 
ciated in value. When the uprising was success- 
fully suppressed, the merchants would sell the 
native currency back to the government at an enor- 



HAITI 133 

mous profit. If the revolt should become a success- 
ful revolution, the merchants who had lent the 
money to help start it would have a " pull " with 
the new government, which amply repaid the risk 
taken. In this way, whichever party gained the 
ascendency, the merchant was the winner. It was 
a " heads-I-win-tails-you-lose " proposition. The 
export duty on coffee, from which the Haitian 
government derived the greater part of its income, 
was in a great measure avoided by bribing the 
officials. There were exceptions, but many of the 
foreign merchants were there to make money re- 
gardless of any law of either God or man. 

Protestant missionaries first came to Haiti at the 
request of an enlightened president. The govern- 
ment has always received and treated the foreign 
missionaries well; but the few missions that have 
been established in response to the president's ap- 
peal have always been short-handed. We have not 
treated Haiti fairly. In all my travels, I have never 
visited any field where a little money would do 
more towards the extension of the Kingdom. We 
are still overlooking a great opportunity and shirk- 
ing a great responsibility. 

Our own government has but recently come to 
the help of Haiti politically. The landing of the 
United States marines in Port-au-Prince put a stop 
to a perfect orgy of murder and bloodshed. The 
Church ought not to have waited till now; but 
surely there is no longer any excuse for not enter- 



134 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

ing this door so wide open to Christian opportunity 
and calling so loudly to our sympathies. Lying 
right at our very doors, Haiti has a claim upon us 
that few other nations have. Among her first 
needs are schools and medical attention. 

Haiti has a local Bible and Tract Society at 
Port-au-Prince entirely under native officers. The 
president, Monsieur Jackson, is a local preacher of 
the Wesley an Methodist Church. For many years 
this Society has imported from France Christian 
calendars, hymn-books and Bibles. They have not 
capital to carry on an aggressive work but they al- 
ways have on hand a small stock of Bibles, as well 
as helpful Christian literature in French. In spite 
of its lack of means and its ability to send out 
books only to such as pay cash, this Society has 
been a beacon light in the dark night through which 
Haiti has been passing. 

Rome has done something for the education of 
such as were able to pay, establishing a few schools. 
Religiously she has done little for Haiti. Instead 
of lifting him, she has come down to the level of 
the negro. One Christmas day in the old cathedral 
at Port-au-Prince, I listened to an eloquent sermon 
by a French priest in which he claimed for Roman- 
ism all that is good in our present civilization. On 
the wall at my right was a picture of the Virgin, 
a buxom negress, holding in her lap an infant 
Christ, as black as herself. Rome has thus adapted 
herself to the negro. On the other hand, the witch 



HAITI 135 

doctors have adopted the Cross and claim that their 
magic will have no effect unless they regularly at- 
tend high mass. 

Memories of visits to the hospitals of Haiti re- 
main with one like waking nightmares. No matter 
how sick nor with what disease, the natives of 
Port-au-Prince are sent to the hospital to be fed 
on red beans and die. I have seen patients lying on 
the decaying floor in the municipal hospital in that 
city with sheets and mattresses the color of the dirty 
boards of the floor. All over the patients were 
running a lot of half -grown, half -starved chickens. 
If water had ever been brought into contact with 
the floor, clothing, or the bodies of the patients, 
they had long ago lost all trace of it. 

During one of these visits, after such words of 
comfort as we were able to give, we said to one 
patient : " Now can we do anything for you ? " 
" Oh ! " said the almost dying man addressed, " If 
you could give me something with which to buy 
some food, I would be so grateful. We get noth- 
ing here but red beans. It does seem as though 
I could not endure them much longer/' The care- 
taker informed us afterwards that the state of 
their funds enabled them to purchase notning but 
beans and that the doctors had ceased coming regu- 
larly, since the municipality had been unable to pay 
their bills. There are no doctors for the country 
people of Haiti. They depend entirely upon the 
herbs and charms given to them by the sorcerers. 



136 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

At Jacmel I visited a so-called hospital, a tumble- 
down shack just outside the cemetery where a 
number of poor victims were rotting to death, suf- 
fering from the most horrible diseases. They were 
gathered together here under a caretaker in order 
that they might be brought to the attention of 
charitable people attending funerals or visiting the 
graves of the dead who might be persuaded to give 
a few pennies to help to further a little their ex- 
istence. Hospitals and free dispensaries are a most 
crying need of Haiti to-day. 

The attitude of the Haitian government has al- 
ways been more or less favorable to Protestant 
missions. It helps with the support of school work 
and gives a pittance towards the support of native 
pastors. Though there is a concordat with Rome, 
recognizing Catholicism as the State Church and 
the salaries of the French priests and nuns are 
paid by the government, the Haitians have dreaded 
the political influence of Rome and encouraged 
Protestantism, partly as a sort of an offset to it. 
Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the 
door to Protestant missions in Haiti has always 
been open, though the American Church has never 
seen it. There have been and still are small groups 
of Christians throughout the Island praying God to 
send the help from America that never comes. 



IX 
SANTO DOMINGO 

THE Dominican Republic is the official 
designation of the eastern two-thirds of 
the Island of Haiti and Santo Domingo. 
Although occupying two-thirds of the Island the 
population is estimated as but one-third that of the 
neighboring Republic. The official language of 
Haiti is French, that of the people a French Pa- 
tois. But the official language of the Dominican 
Republic, as well as that of the people, is Spanish. 

Neither the Spaniards nor the English carried 
their dialectical differences to the colonies. These 
variations are such in the home lands of each that 
they amount almost to different languages. The 
outsider travelling from one county of England to 
another, or from one province of Spain to another, 
understands with difficulty the language of the 
common people. This is not the case, however, 
either with English or Spanish speaking America. 
Throughout the New World the language is quite 
uniform. The slight local differences consist in the 
use of different words and not in grammatical con- 
struction. In Spanish America, perhaps the most 
noticeable local differences occur in the use of dif- 

*37 



138 CEUSADING EKT THE WEST INDIES 

f erent words to represent the same thing, the names 
of some indigenous products retaining the local In- 
dian names. In Porto Rico the turkey is known 
by its Spanish name " pavo "; in Cuba he goes by 
the name of " guanajo "; in Mexico, " gaajalote " ; 
and in Central America, " chompipe" The sweet 
potato is " batata " in Porto Rico ; " boniato " in 
Cuba, and " camote " in Mexico. There are also 
slight local differences in pronunciation due to the 
slurring or dropping of the " d " and " s " in cer- 
tain words ; but they are nothing like the dialectical 
variations of the home land. 

The capital of the Dominican Republic, called 
Santo Domingo, is the oldest European settlement 
in America, having been founded by Bartholomew 
Colombus in 1496, four years after the discovery 
of America by his brother. This City was for 
many years the starting point or base from which 
the early Spanish adventurers left on their voyages 
of exploration, discovery and conquest. Santo 
Domingo was the first country in America from 
which gold was sent to Spain ; and the first in which 
the aborigines were exterminated by European 
cruelty. It was also one of the first, if not the first, 
into which negro slavery was introduced, at the 
suggestion of the devoted priest, Las Casas, in an 
attempt to save the rapidly perishing Indians from 
complete annihilation. 

The greater discoveries on the mainland led to 
the neglecting of the exploitation of this island 



SANTO DOMINGO 139 

territory which has remained undeveloped. There 
are still primeval forests containing much mahog- 
any and, in the centre of the Island, a belt of long 
leaf pine. 

Haiti has been called the Black Republic because 
of the purely negro character of its inhabitants. 
Many of the natives of the Dominican Republic, 
however, are of pure Spanish blood and pride 
themselves in being descendants of the early Span- 
ish explorers. 

The soil of this republic is extremely fertile and 
the climate such that much of it is adapted to 
settlement by the white man. The interior is high 
and cool. One of its mountain peaks towers ten 
thousand feet above sea level, making it the high- 
est elevation in the West Indies. 

I first visited the Island in 1910, arriving just 
after it had been swept by a West Indian hurricane. 
We landed at Puerto Plata, the northern port of 
call for the Clyde Line boats. I had intended visit- 
ing the interior and going by land to the Capital, 
thus crossing the Island from north to south. I 
found, however, that the recent rains had put the 
railroad out of commission and rendered the trails 
of the interior almost impassable. Hence I re- 
mained but a few days, completing the journey to 
the Capital by water. 

Like many other ports of the West Indies, 
Puerto Plata has no wharves. The sea being very 
rough we came to anchor farther out than usual 



140 CKTJSADING IK THE WEST IKDIES 

and the passengers were taken ashore in small boats 
that came out from the port for the purpose. We 
had much difficulty in making the transfer from 
the ocean-going vessel to the small boat, because of 
the rolling of the ship and the roughness of the 
water. It required all the skill and strength of the 
boatmen to approach the rolling ship and, at the 
same time, keep the edge of the boat from being 
caught under the gangway. This operation is not 
without danger to both passengers and baggage. 
Once when we were leaving the port of Aux Cayes, 
Haiti, the gangway caught the gunwale of the boat 
of a man who had come out to sell oranges, break- 
ing and upsetting the boat and scattering the fruit. 
Fortunately the man caught the gangway and was 
carried an involuntary passenger to the next port, 
there being no other boat near to take him ashore. 
The baggage was first disposed of, being piled in 
the centre of the rowboats. Then as the rolling 
of the swell brought the ship's gangway and the 
boat near enough together, the passengers would 
jump from one to the other before the boat sepa- 
rated from the ship. This operation was repeated 
until all had been transferred. The trip to shore 
was very uncomfortable. Nearly all were sick and 
the women both frightened and sick. One seasick 
mulatto woman clung to me all the way, asking me 
to save her, if the boat upset. 

In Puerto Plata I met the Rev. Mr. Mears and 
wife, representative of the Wesleyan Methodist 



SANTO DOMINGO 141 

Church of England. Mrs. Mears is a trained nurse 
and has been called upon repeatedly to lend her 
services to the wounded in time of revolution. 

Learning that, owing to the heavy rains, the rail- 
road was not in operation, and that it would be in- 
advisable to attempt the trip overland on horse- 
back, I wired Rev. W. W. Williams that I was in 
Puerto Plata and would be leaving by the next 
boat. Mr. Williams, who was working as colporter 
in the interior town of Santiago de los Caballeros, 
set out immediately on foot and reached Puerto 
Plata in time for us to be able to discuss the situa- 
tion quite thoroughly before my boat left for the 
other side of the Island. 

The more one associates with Latin Americans, 
from whatever country, the more one deprecates 
the too common American supercilious attitude of 
superiority towards those of other countries. The 
spirit that invites and uses depreciatives as 
"Chink," for Chinaman; " Dago," for Italian; 
" Froggie " for Frenchman ; " Nigger " for a per- 
son of African blood; "Greaser" for Mexican, 
and " Spigity " for other Spanish Americans, is 
bound, not only to interfere with our usefulness 
and good-fellowship, but to create for us an un- 
enviable isolation on account of the hard feeling 
engendered. The attitude is as unreasonable as it 
is unkind and unchristian. 

Some of their customs may seem strange to us. 
West Indians will carry an umbrella at night to 



142 CKTJSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

protect them from the dew and the rays of the 
moon. They will almost hermetically close every 
chink and cranny of their sleeping apartment to 
keep out the dreaded night air. Foolish as it now 
seems, these fears had a reasonable origin. 
Malaria and yellow fever were deadly, fearful, and 
unseen enemies that struck at night. It is but re- 
cently that science has discovered that the carrier 
of these diseases is the mosquito which also gets in 
its work only at night. Shutting out the moon- 
light, the dew and the air would also shut out the 
mosquito and ward off the dreaded fever, although 
it would induce the slower tuberculosis. 

On the other hand we must acknowledge some of 
their customs as superior to our own. At Christ- 
mas tide the children of our Spanish-speaking West 
Indian neighbors do not hang up their stockings to 
be filled by a grotesque, jolly-bellied Christmas 
elf. No such unmeaning heathenish myth has been 
taught them. They celebrate the coming of the 
Wise Men, January the sixth. This is called the 
" Day of the Kings." On the eve of this day, the 
children pull grass which they put outside of their 
doors at night in a shoe-box, basket, or other re- 
ceptacle. This is food for the camels of the Wise 
Men who come in the night, take up the fodder that 
has been gathered for their faithful beasts, and 
pass on; leaving a reward for the thoughtful chil- 
dren. This custom surely has the merit of being 
picturesque, having a basis in historic fact and 



SANTO DOMINGO 143 

carrying the deeper significance that the gifts in- 
tended for the Christ reach their destination in the 
hands of " these little ones." 

The Dominicans are very courteous, gentlemanly 
and, perhaps, easier of approach from an evangel- 
ical point of view than the other Spanish-speaking 
people of the West Indies. There is not the athe- 
ism among them that one finds in Cuba. Colpor- 
ters report that the Dominicans never scoff at the 
virgin birth, and the other miracles recorded in the 
New Testament, as the Cubans are frequently dis- 
posed to do. On my last trip through the West 
Indies I did not go ashore at Santo Domingo 
though our boat made the call. A couple of col- 
porters were working in the Capital at the time and 
I wished to get in touch with them. For this pur- 
pose I made myself known to the pilot, port doctor, 
and customs officials, while they were waiting for 
the rowboat to take them ashore after their visit of 
inspection. Each of these men had seen our work- 
ers, who were making a house-to-house canvass of 
the City; but had paid no attention to the kind of 
books they were selling. When I explained to 
them they became much interested. All three pur- 
chased from me a Spanish Bible of good quality 
and I was pleased to note that they spent the re- 
mainder of the time, waiting for their boat, in read- 
ing and examining the Bibles they had purchased. 

The inhabitants of the Dominican Republic have 
always received Bible workers in a very kindly 



144 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

manner. After a house-to-house canvass of the 
coast towns in 1909, Mr. Williams reported finding 
Bibles in less than five per cent, of the houses. He 
sold on this visit two thousand and four hundred 
books, and was most courteously treated by the au- 
thorities and people. In 1910, Mr. Cole spent two 
weeks in the Capital when on his way from Cuba 
to Porto Rico, selling two hundred books during 
the first seven days. In 1911, we were able to 
send Mr. Cole again, in company with two Porto 
Rican colporters, to the Dominican Republic. They 
visited all of the coast towns, as well as some of the 
towns in the interior, selling over five thousand 
copies. Nearly all who could read purchased a 
book. Mr. Williams, revisiting the Republic in 
1913, reported finding Bibles in over ninety per 
cent, of the houses in the towns on the coast. 

The development of both Haiti and the Domini- 
can Republic must be very rapid in the immediate 
future because of the world need of the commodi- 
ties which their soil can be made to produce in such 
abundance. Mr. Cole thought the people of Santo 
Domingo more like Americans than any other 
Latin people he had met. The American Govern- 
ment is already there trying to help the country 
financially. The American Church has recently 
undertaken an enterprise in the West Indies 
that may mark an epoch in the annals of foreign 
missions. Several denominations having mission 
work in the neighboring island of Porto Rico have 



SANTO DOMINGO 145 

decided on the joint occupation of Santo Domingo. 
This union of forces will enable the religious bodies 
cooperating to undertake the work on a scale im- 
possible to any one of them working singly. Evan- 
gelistic, educational, and medical work can be car- 
ried on in a manner adequate to the need and 
present opportunity. Rev. P. W. Drury, for many 
years a missionary in Porto Rico, has been chosen 
to lead the enterprise. This united effort has been 
made possible by the churches concerned getting to- 
gether under the auspices of the Committee on Co- 
operation in Latin America and organizing the 
Board of Christian Work in Santo Domingo. 
This Republic is indeed fortunate in having been 
selected as the field for such a significant forward 
step. 



PORTO RICO 

IN June, 1910, the Foreign Agencies Commit- 
tee of the American Bible Society requested 
me to visit Porto Rico, study the field, and 
report on the advisability of directing the work of 
Bible distribution in all the islands of the West 
Indies as one agency. I was also to make sugges- 
tions as to the point most suitable for headquarters 
of such an agency. 

Leaving New York on the steamship Caracas, of 
the Red " D " Line, I was fortunate in having as 
fellow passenger the Rev. J. A. McAllister, of the 
Presbyterian Mission in Mayaguez, Porto Rico. 
We had a pleasant voyage, and I learned much 
from Mr. McAllister regarding conditions in the 
Island. 

The days passed in Porto Rico were very busy 
ones. I visited the three cities, San Juan, Maya- 
guez and Ponce, besides some smaller places. The 
time was spent in calling on the missionaries, visit- 
ing the churches, talking with business men, com- 
mercial travellers, and others, getting all the infor- 
mation possible that would be likely to help in 
forming an opinion regarding the best way to con- 

146 



POBTO EICO 147 

duct the work of Bible distribution throughout the 
West Indies. 

I soon found, strange as it may seem from a 
glance at our maps, that New York was the only- 
point from which the work in the whole of the West 
Indies could be conducted efficiently and economic- 
ally. The little inter-island communication was ir- 
regular and unsatisfactory. There was, however, 
regular communication between all of the islands 
and New York City. People travelling from one 
island to another were, as frequently as not, obliged 
to make the trip by way of New York. I discov- 
ered, as I told my friends, that Manhattan and 
Long Island were the most central of the West 
India Islands. 

It was very encouraging to see the progress that 
missions had made in Porto Rico. In the city of 
Ponce I visited, one Sunday morning, the Sunday 
schools of the Methodist, Baptist, United Brethren, 
and Christian Churches and saw six hundred schol- 
ars taking as much interest in the lesson and in the 
affairs of the Sunday school as children in the 
home land would do. This large attendance was a 
revelation of the hold the mission workers had 
secured upon the hearts of the people of Porto 
Rico. 

In Ponce, I was the guest of Rev. and Mrs. D. P. 
Barrett, missionaries of the American Christian 
Convention. Wishing to see for myself the way 
in which the people received the Bible, I went out 



148 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

with the colporter, who was working there, and 
spent a short time with him in his house-to-house 
work in the city. After this, Mr. Barrett kindly 
lending his horse and buggy for the purpose, we 
spent some time in the suburbs and surrounding 
country. 

We found the people so favorably disposed and 
so easily persuaded to buy the Bible that I con- 
ceived the idea of making a house-to-house canvass 
of the whole Island in the shortest time possible, 
thereby giving everybody who could read an 
opportunity to secure the Book of Books. 
Hence, I wrote Dr. John Fox suggesting that, 
although New York City was the logical centre 
from which to direct the work in the West 
Indies, I be allowed to make my headquarters 
in San Juan, Porto Rico, until the Island had been 
thoroughly covered by our colporters, in order that 
I might personally supervise the work. This sug- 
gestion was favorably received by the Board of 
Managers. After a trip to Cuba, calling en route 
at Jacmel and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, I returned to 
New York to meet my family. They had been 
spending the summer with Mrs. Jordan's parents, 
Mr. and Mrs. T. D. Merrill, of Martinville, Que- 
bec. We reached Porto Rico on the first of Oc- 
tober, 1910. 

Porto Rico (the Rich Port) should have been 
named Porto Pobre (the Poverty Stricken Port), 
was the impression the Island first produced upon 



POETO EICO 149 

me. I had seen it after having visited the larger 
and much richer islands of Cuba and Santo Do- 
mingo. In these islands I had seen fields of sugar- 
cane, with stalks ten or twelve feet long, that kept 
on producing year after year without any fertilizer 
whatever, and without replowing oftener than once 
in ten or more years. Beside these fields the cane 
in Porto Rico had a dwarfed appearance. More- 
over, the planters told me that they were obliged 
to replow the land every three years; and that 
fertilizer must be used in order to secure a paying 
crop. The people of the laboring class were bare- 
footed and anaemic looking. They lived in houses 
that were shacks compared with the substantially 
built huts of Cuba and Haiti. 

I have already described the Cuban country vil- 
lage house with its earth floor. The Haitian, also, 
builds on the ground. That is, the floor of the hut 
is either of solidly packed earth or cobblestone. 
The walls of the hut in Haiti are composed of a 
kind of matting or basket-work, neatly and closely 
woven. This basket-work is plastered over with 
mud and then whitewashed. The house is roofed 
with the thick thatch of grass and presents quite a 
neat and substantial appearance. These houses are 
also very comfortable during the middle of the 
day when the thick thatch keeps out the heat of the 
perpendicular rays of. the sun. 

The ramshackle, tumble-down, dilapidated, dry- 
goods-box dwellings of the poorer people in Porto 



150 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

Rico looked more as if they had been put up for 
temporary chicken coops than for the use of human 
beings. The material of which the house is made 
may consist of broken soap boxes, canned goods 
boxes, palm leaves, grass, reeds, pieces of tins in 
which the oil companies ship their product to the 
Island ; or all of these may combine in sheltering the 
occupants from view of the passer-by, each material 
covering a portion of the shelter, which is worthy 
neither of the name of house nor hut. Instead of 
the gratefully cool thatch, the roof consists of cor- 
rugated iron or some other material that transmits 
the heat of the sun directly to the interior. A no- 
table difference in the construction of the houses of 
Cuba and Haiti and the shacks of Porto Rico is 
that while the former are built solidly on the 
ground, the floor of the Porto Rican dwelling is 
of poles or boards and raised two or three feet 
above the ground, frequently suspended from the 
posts on which the roof is supported. 

The furnishings of these homes of our poorer 
fellow-citizens in Porto Rico is of the most meagre 
description. There are seldom beds. Some pos- 
sess a hammock or two, but the most of the occu- 
pants sleep on the floor. Sometimes, two or even 
three persons will sleep in one small hammock. 
Frequently there is neither table nor chair, a soap 
box or rude bench supplying the place of both. 
Their food is of the simplest. As in the Domini- 
can Republic and Cuba, plantains supply the prin- 



nf - i " 




S4 |i- 










\; : ' 


I--' 



PORTO RICAN HOME IN SUBURBS OF PONCE. 
PORTO RICAN HOMES IN CAYEY, P. R. 



POETO RICO 151 

cipal part of the starch in the diet. Black coffee is 
taken to remove the feeling of fatigue; and tobacco 
stills the pangs of hunger. 

Neither the Spanish Government nor the Roman 
Hierarchy had done anything for the uplift of the 
laboring classes in Porto Rico. The anaemic con- 
dition of the people was due, not only to malnutri- 
tion, but to the hook-worm, which flourished and 
was propagated by unsanitary conditions. Pre- 
vious to the coming of the Americans, the Porto 
Rican laboring class had received no instruction 
whatever in sanitation. Homes in the country, vil- 
lages and small towns were without toilets or cess- 
pools. 

Fortunately the Porto Rican is an apt pupil, and 
conditions began to improve much more rapidly 
than was to be expected, when so many of the re- 
forms ran counter to long-established prejudices. 
I always found the common people kindly dis- 
posed towards Uncle Sam and grateful for what 
he had done for them. 

On my first visit to Ponce I overheard some 
laboring men on the railway platform discussing a 
case in court where a laborer had received justice 
in a suit against a rich man, who had tried to de- 
fraud him. " That is the United States," said one 
of them with some pride. " In Spanish times the 
poor man had no chance." The group were unani- 
mous in this opinion. Some of them recited cases 
in which the Spanish courts had decided unjustly 



152 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

in favor of the wealthy and influential as against 
the poor man. 

Waiting beside the road with the auto while 
a colporter went to call at a distant house, I ac- 
costed a man that was passing in company with 
a little boy. The man could not read, but he pur- 
chased a book for the boy. I asked which he pre- 
ferred, the United States government or that of 
Spain. " There is no comparison," he replied. " I 
never learned to read ; and if we had remained un- 
der Spain my children would never have had an 
opportunity to learn; but now, they can all read, 
and the oldest is ready for high school." 

During our house-to-house canvass of Porto 
Rico at a country gathering, an old man of the 
waiting group began to talk of the changes in the 
village since the American occupation. When he 
began to speak of the unhygienic conditions before 
the municipality had enforced the building of 
privies, a young lady, shaking him by the arm, said, 
" For God's sake, Father, keep still ; haven't you 
any shame ? Those days have passed ; let us forget 
them." " I was just trying to show you some of 
the things that we owe to the Americans," he re- 
plied. 

America has brought justice to the poor man and 
opened the door of opportunity to all. Science is 
eradicating the hook-worm, creating a public opin- 
ion in favor of clean living, and making the Island 
healthy. There still remains, however, the prob- 



POETO EICO 153 

lem of bettering the economic condition and of cre- 
ating in the heart of the laborer a self-respect, 
that shall demand a better housing for himself than 
is a shack that would make an American farmer 
blush to own as a pig-pen. 

Again, I should like to have Mrs. Jordan write 
about her memories of the housekeeping problems 
of Porto Rico. However, as the Bible deposi- 
tory was in our home in San Juan I became some- 
what more familiar with them than I might other- 
wise have done. We found living less expensive 
and rents cheaper in San Juan than in Havana. 
American foodstuffs were obtainable at slightly 
more than the prices of the same articles in the 
States. There was such a large American colony 
that the sense of isolation was not so great. Schools 
were good; and in other ways, conditions were 
more like those at home. We secured a house in 
Santurce, a suburb of San Juan, in a neighborhood 
called the " Condado," where we lived for nearly 
three years. Low and swampy, formerly, the sec- 
tion has been filled in and is becoming a very desir- 
able residential quarter. It receives the ocean 
breezes, and is always pleasantly cool. Our rela- 
tions with our landlord, Mr. Louis Purcell, were 
of the most pleasant nature. 

For a time the servant problem was what made 
life interesting. Here we had our first experience 
with the English-speaking West Indian negro. 
When I asked an old negress who came to sell fruit 



154 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

if she was a Porto Rican, she threw her head back 
and proudly answered, " I am an Englishwoman. " 
I never should have suspected it from her color. 
It appeared that she was born in one of the neigh- 
boring English islands and was a British subject; 
therefore, " an Englishwoman," — not bad logic ! 
This woman was anxious to find a position for an- 
other English African, just over from the Island 
of St. Kitts. Since we needed a servant at once 
we took her on trial. One day was sufficient. 
The girl was from twelve, noon, to four, p. m., 
washing the lunch dishes for three persons. I 
think she was the most deliberate piece of human- 
ity we had ever seen. 

The next applicant was a tall, large-boned 
woman from St. Thomas. She began by telling 
how active she was, scratching her head at the 
same time. It seemed she had learned that the 
other girl was too slow ; for she laid stress on her 
own activity. " Ma'am," she said, " I's jest 
obliged to be a-movin' all the time. I can't keep 
still a minute, Ma'am." We did not doubt her 
statement, for there were few, if any, parts of her 
outside anatomy to which she did not pay particu- 
lar attention with her industrious finger-nails while 
talking. Then came a tall, well- formed moder- 
ately spoken woman from St. Croix. She was 
employed and did better than we expected, making 
efforts to learn and becoming quite attached to 
Mrs. Jordan and the baby. 



POETO EICO 155 

One of the pests of the American tropics is the 
jigger flea, or "nigua," as it is called in Spanish. 
The insect burrows into the skin under a toe-nail, 
or in a crease in the foot, and begins to lay its eggs 
in an expanding sack, which develops to the size of 
a pea, soon becoming uncomfortable and painful. 
When discovered they should, of course, be re- 
moved at once. Some persons become quite ex- 
pert in removing them without breaking the sack 
or drawing any blood in the operation, thereby 
avoiding the danger of infection. During my 
first absence from the Island Mrs. Jordan discov- 
ered a " nigua " under one of her toe-nails ; and, 
never having seen or heard of them before, called 
the attention of Jane to it. The servant became 
all concerned at once; told her how to remove it; 
and at the same time warned her seriously, telling 
her that she must not bathe for a week, or she 
would surely die. The next morning, Mrs. Jordan, 
paying no heed to the warning of the day before, 
started for the bath. 

"You surely aren't going to bathe," said the 
frightened servant. 

" I surely am," replied Mrs. Jordan. 

" Then tell me what doctor you wish me to call," 
promptly said the servant, " because you will need 
one." 

The joke was on Mrs. Jordan this time ; for the 
toe did become infected and she was obliged not 
only to call a doctor, but to sit for a week with her 



156 CEUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

foot in a chair, an object lesson in the servant's 
mind of the fearful danger incurred by bathing 
within a week after the removal of a jigger from 
the foot. v Incidentally, I will add that we never 
had any more trouble from this source; as, learn- 
ing the danger of infection, the spot from which 
the " tiigua " was extracted was always touched 
with iodine or some other disinfectant. Jane did 
not remain long. After we had tried several other 
applicants Gumersinda came to us. 

Gumersinda was a native Porto Rican, very 
dark, and with Indian rather than negro features — 
thin lips, aquiline nose, and straight, black hair. 
From the first we could see that she was doing her 
best. She was slow to learn, but did make prog- 
ress. She learned to cook many things as we liked 
them and to make bread; but never seemed to be 
able to learn how to make a cake. She was always 
good natured, never getting out of patience with 
the children. We had the feeling that Gumersinda 
could be depended upon to do what she thought 
was right ; and we were never disappointed. With 
her mother and two sisters she used to attend the 
little mission hall, a few blocks away; but never 
made any profession of religion. After Mrs. Jor- 
dan's return from a visit to Canada, Gumersinda 
sent word that she could not come back. It was 
reported that she was married and we lost sight of 
her. Months after, I received a telephone message 
from Miss Jennie Ordway, superintendent of the 



POETO RICO 157 

Presbyterian Mission Hospital, saying that they 
had a woman patient that could not live but who 
wished to be baptized. Rev. E. A. Odell, the 
Presbyterian missionary in San Juan, was away; 
would I come and baptize the woman. Knowing 
the form of baptism has been much abused by the 
Roman priests and that it has come to be looked 
upon as a saving ordinance by the people, I had 
my doubts as to whether I could baptize her or not ; 
but told Miss Ordway that I would see the woman 
and have a talk with her. The sick woman gave 
such a clear testimony as to her belief in Christ and 
her dependence upon Him alone for her salvation, 
as well as to her desire to confess Him in baptism, 
that I was convinced her wish should be complied 
with. Miss Ordway brought water and I asked 
the woman her name before administering the or- 
dinance. 

" Gumersinda Alvarez," was the response. 

So changed was she by the ravages of disease 
that I had not recognized her. 

Gumersinda lingered for some weeks after her 
baptism. Realizing that there was no hope of 
recovery she asked to be sent to her mother's 
house. I visited her there several times. She was 
very happy and kept her little Spanish Bible at the 
head of her bed. Some friends used to come in 
and read it to her and to the relatives in the house, 
who listened with interest. It was indeed a 
source of great satisfaction to us, as it must be 



158 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

to other Americans in whose homes Gumer- 
sinda had worked, to learn that she had found 
Christ. 

How to keep a washerwoman was one of the 
problems of housekeeping in Porto Rico. At first 
we found that no matter how satisfactory an ar- 
rangement might be made with one, she could 
never be depended upon to return on Monday to 
begin the week's wash. Sometimes the whole week 
would go by and the woman would not come. Al- 
ways having some, to her mind, perfectly good ex- 
cuse. After a while Mrs. Jordan hit upon the 
happy expedient of keeping back on Saturday a 
part of the pay for the week's wash till the next 
Monday morning. The balance due to be paid 
when the woman returned according to promise. 
This worked like a charm. Even in case the 
woman borrowed money — as nearly all Porto 
Rican servants do, from time to time — the last 
fifty cents due on the week's wash was retained 
until Monday, and it was always called for and the 
wash begun at the same time. Clothes are not 
boiled but are well soaped and put out thus wet in 
the hot sun to whiten. If taken home by the 
women they are hung on barbed wire fences and 
thorny cactus hedges to dry. This fills the clothes 
with those small holes and tears so gratifying to 
the average housewife; since it gives the appear- 
ance of age to perfectly new sheets, dresses, etc. 
The laundress always takes the whole week, from 



POETO EICO 159 

Monday till Saturday, to wash and iron for a 
family. 

From our viewpoint the truth is held in slight 
regard by the average Latin American. One never 
knows whether a stranger intends keeping an ap- 
pointment or not. This gives the feeling of tread- 
ing on the sands of uncertainty. The excessive 
desire to please leads them to say the thing they 
think will give pleasure rather than to tell the 
truth; especially is this the case with the laboring 
class. There is a lack of moral courage to say the 
unpleasant thing. 

" Oh ! it is a relief," Mrs. Jordan once remarked 
when nearing New York, " to be getting back 
where people say what they mean and mean what 
they say." 

Christianity, however, makes a man truthful in 
whatever part of the world it finds him. We have 
just as high regard for the word of some of our 
Spanish-American friends in the evangelical 
churches as for those of any other nationality and 
recognize in them men and women of integrity and 
noble purpose. 



XI 
PORTO RICO (Concluded) 

THE systematic and cooperative manner in 
which the various Protestant churches un- 
dertaking work in Porto Rico have gone 
about their task, has meant much for the efficiency 
of the service rendered. While the two large cities 
of San Juan and Ponce are considered common 
ground and open to all, the rest of the Island is 
divided among the various Mission Boards; each 
assuming the responsibility of evangelizing its 
share of the field. There is not a corner of the field 
that is not occupied, and there are very few villages 
or hamlets that do not have a regular preaching 
service conducted by the workers of some denomi- 
nation. There is little, or no, overlapping and 
the work is proceeding harmoniously. Besides 
churches, there are schools and orphanages and a 
Union Theological Seminary, where several stu- 
dents are studying under the direction of mission- 
aries of their respective boards. 

The hospitals have probably done more than any 
other one agency to remove prejudice and help the 
people of Porto Rico to see that Protestant mis- 
sionaries are seeking their good. The Presbyte- 

160 



POETO RICO 161 

rian Hospital at San Juan is, by far, the best 
equipped institution of the kind in the Island. Its 
fame has reached the neighboring Islands of St. 
Thomas, St. Croix, and Santo Domingo; so that 
many who are able to do so send their sick from 
these places to San Juan for treatment by Dr. Hil- 
dreth, the missionary surgeon. Few are the mis- 
sionaries who, if they are long in Porto Rico, are 
not, at one time or another, placed under obligation 
to this institution and its sympathetic officials. 
Our first boy, George-William, came to bless our 
home under its roof. 

The Presbyterians have another hospital in 
Mayaguez; the Episcopalians, one in Ponce; and 
the Congregationalists have established one in Hu- 
macao under the direction of our old pupil and 
friend, Dr. Max Shurter, who is both an ordained 
minister of the Gospel and a graduated physician. 
While at all of these institutions a charge is made 
to those who are able to pay, there is a daily clinic 
at the dispensary where thousands of the poor are 
treated freely. 

While we would not take away one of these up- 
lifting and helpful institutions from Porto Rico, 
we could not help reverting in our minds to Haiti, 
for which American Christians are doing so little 
to mitigate the evils of heathen darkness, and won- 
dering if the Master would not say: " This ought 
ye to have done and not to have left the other un- 
done." 



162 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

The American Bible Society was in Porto Rico 
as the servant of all of these churches and institu- 
tions, and had the welcome, support and coopera- 
tion of all. The Bible Society had done founda- 
tion work before any of the others arrived, sending 
in Bibles, even in Spanish times, through ships' 
officers, travellers and others, when it was danger- 
ous for a Porto Rican to possess a copy of the 
Book. Now, however, the American Government 
had been there twelve years, with its schools, and 
we felt that the time had come to undertake Bible 
distribution on a scale hitherto not attempted, by 
a house-to-house canvass of the whole territory. 
The money required for this work was appropri- 
ated by the Board of Managers and the task ac- 
complished within the next two years. Mr. Cole 
was brought over from Cuba to train the workers 
and conduct the campaign. The Porto Rican 
churches were requested to furnish, from their 
membership, the needed workers. 

The response to our appeal for workers was 
prompt. Good men, earnest, spiritually minded 
men, came to us from the various churches, recom- 
mended by their pastors. Aquino Ojeda, from 
the Christian Alliance of Barceloneta, was the first 
to come, recommended by the much loved and de- 
voted Don Villamil Ortiz, the converted priest. 
Next was Domingo Rodriguez, from the Method- 
ist Church of Ponce. Paulino Dieppa came to us 
from the Baptists of Caguas. There were many 




O J 






w o 



POETO RICO 163 

others who worked with us during the course of 
the two years, but these were the first and were 
with us the longest. 

Nineteen hundred and eleven and 1912 were 
happy years. Happy because, having the money 
needed and the necessary workers, we were able to 
carry out our plan of a house-to-house canvass 
with the Bible of the whole Island of Porto Rico, 
securing results in Bible circulation far beyond our 
expectations. During the first year thirty-five thou- 
sand books were sold, the larger number being of 
a revised translation of the Four Gospels in Span- 
ish. All of the towns were reached the first year. 
In 1912 a Ford automobile was purchased in order 
that we might be able to reach the people living 
near the more than one thousand miles of splendid 
roads that encircle and traverse the Island. I 
spent most of my time in the car when in Porto 
Rico that year, visiting the colporters, and the 
churches, keeping the workers supplied with books, 
working with them, etc. Occasionally the mission- 
ary superintendents living in San Juan would plan 
to go with me on their visits, paying their trans- 
portation, thereby reducing for the Bible Society 
the expense of the auto. In this way Rev. Manuel 
Andujar arranged for me to take him over the 
field occupied by the Methodist Episcopal Church 
in company with Bishop Burt and daughter at the 
time of their visit to Porto Rico. The Rev. A. B. 
Rudd, D. D., of the American Baptist Home Mis- 



164 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

sionary Society, was a congenial companion on 
several such trips. 

Mr. Cole, who had been with us all of 1911, left 
early in 1912 for his home in Kansas to complete 
his college course; but with the help of the auto 
and the assistance of Mr. Williams, I was able to 
supervise the work of the colporters that he had 
trained. How enthusiastically they worked! 
There was not a lazy streak in any of them. 
Some of the other kind applied, but we were able 
to weed them out quickly. At the suggestion of 
Dr. Thomson, of Mayaguez, who was intensely in- 
terested in the work, we engaged some of the stu- 
dents of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary 
in that city during the vacation period, and sent 
them out by twos over the west end of the Island. 
There was a friendly rivalry to see who could sell 
the most. They would tell with joy of selling to 
nearly every house on a street, and, on returning to 
their lodgings in the evening, of seeing many 
seated in the doorways reading the books pur- 
chased earlier in the day. This year we sold thirty 
thousand books, making over sixty-five thousand 
copies for the two years. Having accomplished the 
specific task for which I had asked to be sent to 
Porto Rico, I suggested that headquarters for the 
agency be changed to New York, in order that 
more attention might be paid to the neglected and 
more needy fields of Haiti and the Dominican 
Republic as well as to Cuba and the French Islands. 



POETO RICO 165 

I like to linger in memory over the time spent 
in picturesque Porto Rico, because of the associa- 
tions and life friendships formed among both the 
missionaries and Porto Rican pastors. There was 
not a discordant note to disturb the harmony of 
our relationships. 

At the first conference of the United Brethren 
Churches that I attended, the representatives of the 
different congregations voted to take an offering 
simultaneously in all of the churches in their field 
for the work of the American Bible Society, and 
asked their Superintendent, the Rev. P. W. Drury, 
of Ponce, to set the date. Mr. Drury suggested to 
me that it would be a good idea to see if all of the 
other denominations working in the Island would 
not be willing to take the same step and thus have 
a Bible Sunday for Porto Rico. Upon presenta- 
tion of the subject at the annual meetings of the 
other denominations, favorable action was taken 
and, finally, the third Sunday in November was 
chosen as Bible Sunday. It has since become a 
national institution as far as the Protestant 
churches of Porto Rico are concerned. The union 
periodical, Puerto Rico Evangelico, has a Bible 
Number, in which all of the articles treat of the 
Bible in some aspect of its importance in the 
Christian life, as well as of the importance of its 
circulation in the propagation of the Gospel. The 
representative of the American Bible Society sends 
out circular letters to all the pastors with such in- 



166 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

formation as may be of help in preparing a dis- 
course suited to the occasion. 

The Bible Sunday idea was taken up in Cuba un- 
der the direction of Rev. S. A. Neblett and has 
since been continued. In 1918, the pastors of 
Mexico took up the idea with enthusiasm, and will 
no doubt fix upon a day satisfactory to all. The 
celebration of the day has been found of great help 
in the mission field in stimulating Bible study and 
in arousing an interest in the circulation of the 
Book. It also keeps the work of the American 
Bible Society before the people, and, incidentally, 
the money given not only helps the givers to feel a 
personal interest in the work of the Society, but it 
enables us to accomplish more, for it is spent in 
circulating Bibles in the country in which it is col- 
lected. 

Many were the incidents of interest in connec- 
tion with this work of Bible distribution. It was 
a good stroke of publicity for the work of Protes- 
tant Missions. Early in 1912, while travelling as 
a second-class passenger to New York, I had 
twelve young Porto Ricans as fellow-passengers, 
not one of whom was a member of an evangelical 
church. When I told them who I was, I found 
that they all knew of the work of the American 
Bible Society, from having met the workers in 
their home town or village, though each was from 
a different part of the Island. 

When starting on my return trip to Porto Rico, 



POETO EICO 167 

while the boat was still tied to the dock at Brook- 
lyn, I saw a prosperous looking old gentleman, who 
was leaving with us, bidding farewell to a young 
man who had come to see him off. The old man, 
after embracing the younger one, took out of his 
pocket and gave to him one of our small pocket 
Spanish Bibles, at the same time addressing him a 
few words of exhortation to which the young man 
listened seriously. Thinking that the old gentle- 
man must be a member of some evangelical church, 
I made it a point to get into conversation with him 
on the first day out. I was surprised to learn that 
he did not belong to any church. He lived in 
Vega Alta, Porto Rico, and was returning from a 
short visit to his son in the States. He had at- 
tended the services of the Presbyterian Mission in 
his home town, believed what was taught there and 
believed the Bible to be the Word of God. Before 
going to New York he had purchased a copy with 
the express purpose of giving it to his son. When 
presenting it to him on bidding him farewell, he 
had exhorted him to read it every day and to do 
his best to follow its teachings. " If you will do 
so," he said, " your father has the assurance that 
you will never go wrong/' Later I visited the 
father at his home in Porto Rico. On my second 
visit he told me with joy of a letter that he had 
just received from his son telling of his member- 
ship in a large Bible class in a Sunday school in one 
of our Western cities, 



168 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

When working in Ponce Mr. Cole sold a copy of 
the Four Gospels to a gentleman of some educa- 
tion. The man knew something of printing and 
of the cost of books. On examining the book 
after Mr. Cole had left, he saw that no money 
could possibly have been made by selling such a 
book for the price that he had paid for it. " If it 
was not for the money that there was in it," he 
asked himself, " why was this young American so 
insistent on making a sale ? " After giving the 
matter some thought he decided that it must have 
been the American's religion that made him so 
zealous in the distribution of the books. He be- 
came curious to learn something of a religion that 
made its followers so enthusiastic and solicitous 
over the welfare of others. He began attending 
the Protestant services, and was converted. The 
Scriptures are now so generally circulated in Porto 
Rico that it is quite common to meet converts who 
trace their first interest to a casual reading of a 
New Testament or Gospel. 

Porto Rico may be expected in the near future 
to supply missionaries for some of the other Latin- 
American countries. During the campaign in this 
Island we were able to send Mr. Cole, in company 
with two Porto Rican colporters, Aquino Ojeda 
and Lorenzo Martinez, to the Dominican Republic, 
where in a short time they sold five thousand copies 
in house-to-house work. Their visit was a source 
of help and cheer to the few evangelical Chris- 



PORTO EIOO 169 

tians whom they met ; but it was a still greater help 
and inspiration to them personally. It was also a 
source of inspiration to the churches of Porto 
Rico, when these colporters returned telling of the 
way God had blessed them in their missionary en- 
terprise. The Porto Rican is not a great traveller ; 
and for these humble workers to start for the Do- 
minican Republic was more of an undertaking than 
it would be for some of us to start for the Antip- 
odes. 

The greatest need in the work of evangelization 
of Porto Rico to-day, as in the case of Cuba, is 
Christian literature. Enough emphasis has not 
been laid upon the importance of creating and cir- 
culating Christian literature in the Spanish lan- 
guage. The Committee of Cooperation in Latin 
America has done much in helping the different 
denominations to get together for a united effort in 
this line. A bi-monthly paper, Puerto Rico Evan- 
gelico, is published in Ponce and is the organ of 
most of the different mission organizations in the 
Island. The paper ought to be enlarged and illus- 
trated and made into a weekly family paper for the 
home. More money should be put into the work 
of pushing religious and other uplifting literature. 
Such books should be distributed by sale rather 
than by gift, but sold at a price that would place 
them within the reach of all. Missionary col- 
porters should be kept constantly at the work of 
creating a desire to possess and read such books. 



XII 
THE FRENCH ISLANDS 

BEGINNING with the Island of St. Thomas, 
directly to the east of Porto Rico, and 
stretching in the form of a segment of a 
circle from Porto Rico to the Island of Trinidad, 
is the belt of islands called the Lesser Antilles; 
thrown up, as it were, to form a boundary between 
the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The 
first group consists of the Virgin Islands which 
the United States has recently acquired by pur- 
chase from Denmark. Of the remainder the 
greater part are British, and English speaking, 
though the population is almost entirely black. 

The two largest of these Islands, namely Guade- 
loupe and Martinique, together with a very few 
small islands lying near Guadeloupe, are French. 
The population of these islands also is largely 
black. They are, however, a part of the French 
Republic, and send a deputy and two senators each 
to the French Chamber in Paris, to look after their 
interests. The American Bible Society does not 
attempt to do any Bible circulation in the British 
Islands, leaving the work there entirely to the care 
of the British and Foreign Bible Society of Lon- 

170 



THE FEENCH ISLANDS 171 

don, England. Our efforts are confined exclu- 
sively to the Spanish and French-speaking West 
Indies. 

There is no Protestant mission work in the 
French Islands; and from the reception that had 
been given Bible Society colporters in their former 
visits, the people were thought to be very fanatical. 
The last man attempting to sell Bibles on the 
streets of Basseterre, the Capital of Guadeloupe, 
had been stoned and driven from the city. On one 
of my visits to Cape Haiti the Rev. Mr. Tanner, 
of the Seventh Day Adventists' Mission there, told 
me that he had received two requests for French 
Bibles from the Island of Guadeloupe. One came 
from a school teacher, and the other from a law- 
yer. These requests came through a party living 
in the English island of Dominique, who said there 
was no place in Guadeloupe where a Bible could 
be purchased. Learning that the separation of 
Church and State in France had taken effect in the 
colonies also, it seemed to me that the time was 
propitious for a representative of the American 
Bible Society to visit these islands. 

The French Trans-Atlantic Line had a small 
boat, the Abd-el-Kadr, that made a monthly itiner- 
ary from the Island of Martinique to Santiago de 
Cuba, calling at Guadeloupe, St. Thomas, Porto 
Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, taking to 
these Islands articles of French manufacture, gath- 
ering up on the way the products of the tropics to 



172 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

take back to Martinique, where they were trans- 
ferred to the larger vessels of the same line re- 
turning to France. Taking this boat in May, 
1911, our first stop was at St. Thomas for coal. 
Here I went ashore and was the guest for the 
night of Mr. and Mrs. Wallacker. The day fol- 
lowing we proceeded on our journey. The trip 
was a delightful one. On the boat I became ac- 
quainted with Mr. Eberhardt, United States Con- 
sul at Large, who was visiting the Consulates of 
Latin America. 

This trip had more of adventure in it than any 
other that I had ever taken in the interests of 
Bible distribution. I knew no one living in the 
Island where I was going, neither was I known 
there, nor did I have any letters of introduction. 
I was taking with me as baggage several cases con- 
taining eleven hundred copies of Scriptures and 
was going to attempt to sell them in a city from 
which the last Bible seller had been driven with 
stones and other missiles thrown by the negro 
population incited by Romish priests. 

It was after dark on Saturday night when we 
came to anchor off Basseterre, the Capital of Gua- 
deloupe. Mr. Florandin, the American Vice-Con- 
sul, came off in a small boat to meet his chief, 
whom he was expecting. On my introduction to 
him by Mr. Eberhardt, he offered to take me also 
ashore, together with my baggage, in his own 
boat. I was thus spared the usual bargaining and 



THE FBENCH ISLANDS 173 

bantering with the vociferating black boatmen as 
to who should secure the landing fee and how 
much it should be. Mr. Florandin very kindly saw 
us comfortably settled in the best rooms of the 
only hotel before leaving us for the night. 

Sunday was a beautiful day and was spent wan- 
dering about, admiring the natural beauties of the 
city and its surroundings. Basseterre is built in a 
depression at the foot of a slightly active volcano, 
la Souffriere, which looms up so threateningly in 
the background as to make a stranger wonder why 
the spot should ever have been chosen as the site 
for a city. The cleanliness of the streets presented 
a striking contrast with the filth of those of Port- 
au-Prince, Haiti. Copious and never failing rapid 
streams from the sides of the towering mountain 
are diverted through the well-paved streets in pipes 
and open gutters, so that at no time is one out of 
hearing of the music of running water. The 
streets are all well paved with cobblestones, and are 
sloped towards the centre, so that down the middle 
of many of them runs a tiny brook of sparkling 
mountain water. The streets were all as clean as 
a well-swept floor and malodors were conspicuous 
by their absence. 

The city, which has seven or eight thousand in- 
habitants, had a bright, cheery, prosperous appear- 
ance. The display of bright colors in the varie- 
gated dresses of the women with their long flowing 
skirts, the superabundance of the folds of which 



174 CEUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

are either gathered up and tucked in at the waist 
or thrown over the arm; and the many-hued ban- 
danna turbans, enhances the impression of cheer 
and prosperity. 

In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the burdens are car- 
ried by the donkey; and the picturesque little ani- 
mal trudging along under loads out of all propor- 
tion to its size, and on the top of which is perched 
the unfeeling driver, excites the sympathy of the 
visitor. In Basseterre it is the gaudily dressed, 
quaintly turbaned ladies of African origin, who, 
with springy step and smiling face, bring in the 
produce of the surrounding country, piled in huge 
baskets on their heads. Nor does one see the male 
element of the community in any way objecting to 
this assumption of the burden by their better 
halves. 

The love of finery on the part of the inhabitants 
of Guadeloupe is indicated also in their little 
homes, the walls of which are decorated with 
highly colored chromos, pictures of the Virgin and 
the Saints, and those horrid representations of the 
Christ showing an exposed, bleeding heart and de- 
picting an agony in the features that would be un- 
worthy a man dying in a noble cause, but utterly 
inconceivable in the Christ the Son of God. The 
church doors being open, I entered and saw a scat- 
tered few kneeling before the images of the Virgin 
and muttering their "Ave Marias." 

Altogether the impressions of Basseterre ac- 



THE FKENCH ISLANDS 175 

quired during that Sunday of rest and waiting 
were favorable. It seemed to have the natural ad- 
vantages destined to make it a veritable Paradise. 
The abundance of water combined with the heat 
of the Tropics produced a luxuriant vegetation, a 
maze of vines, flowering trees and shrubs. The 
people also appeared to be genial, light-hearted and 
accessible. I was glad for the Sabbath's rest and 
anxious to begin the work of the morrow. 

Business begins early in Basseterre. The Cus- 
tom House was open at six a. m. My books were 
admitted free of duty and I succeeded in getting 
them to the hotel without any delay. Taking with 
me an assortment of fifty Gospels and a few Testa- 
ments, I started for the market-place ; after paying 
a fee of a few cents for the privilege of selling, and 
securing a receipt, I began to offer my books. 

As soon as they learned what I was selling, the 
people crowded around me, to the extent that I 
was obliged to stand on a large stone, in order to 
be a little above them and to be able to serve them 
better. In a few minutes the books were all sold 
and many were the disappointed faces of those 
who were reaching out their hands with the money, 
in their eagerness to secure a copy of the Gospel. 
Twice, during the morning, was I obliged to re- 
turn to my room for a new supply, and by noon 
had disposed of three hundred Gospels, by sale, in 
the market-place. I spent the afternoon in visiting 
the stores of the principal street, meeting with 



176 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

but two refusals to buy, each on the ground that 
anything pertaining to religion was a woman's 
affair and not worthy the attention of men. 

In Haiti, the most common objection to purchas- 
ing a book is inability to read. This objection is 
very rare in the French Islands. I think that the 
only persons who objected, in Guadeloupe, on the 
ground of being unable to read were Hindus, of 
whom there are some twelve thousand of the 
poorer class in the Island. The few of these 
Hindus that I saw in the vicinity of Basseterre 
were very unhappy, disconsolate looking specimens 
of humanity, and lacked altogether the vivacity 
and sprightliness of the negro population. They 
were brought over from the French possessions in 
India, under the contract system to work on the 
plantations, and were disappointed at not being 
sent home at the end of five years ; as they claimed 
the contract provided they should be. 

Towards the close of the day's work, as I was 
about to return to the hotel, tired, but pleased with 
the unexpected success, I saw a poorly dressed but 
cleanly looking man coming towards me leading 
two little children. He asked me very animatedly 
if I was selling Bibles; if I believed in Jesus, and 
in conversion. He then told me that he had been 
converted some ten years previously, through the 
labors of an independent worker, who had visited 
the Island, and had preached to little groups that 
gathered to listen in the homes of those who were 



THE FKENCH ISLANDS 177 

willing* to receive him. The man who had accosted 
me was a government employee. He had heard 
during the day from his fellow employees in the 
office that I was in the city selling Bibles, and as 
soon as his work was over for the day, had set out 
to find me. He told me that he had never pos- 
sessed a Bible. He had only a New Testament and 
this was so old and worn that it would hardly hold 
together. His greatest desire was to own a whole 
Bible printed in large type and having references. 

I accompanied the man to his home and there 
met his wife and eight children. I had prayers 
with them that evening, both husband and wife 
taking part, as they said was their custom. The 
following day it was my privilege to present him 
with a large type, French, family, reference Bible. 
Both parents and children were made very happy 
by the gift. As far as I could learn, this was the 
only family in all Guadeloupe that met for family 
worship using God's Word and really praying in- 
stead of counting beads, mumbling Ave Marias, 
and presenting themselves before some image or 
picture. 

The next day I took passage on a small mail 
steamer running twice a week from Basseterre, the 
Capital, to Pointe-a-Pitre, the business centre of 
the Island. Guadeloupe is really made up of two 
islands. The narrow arm of the sea that separates 
them, however, is only from one hundred to four 
hundred feet across and is called the Salt River. 



178 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

This river is bridged and the two islands are gen- 
erally spoken of as one. I had taken with me the 
rest of my books and was going to Pointe-a-Pitre, 
not because I had finished the work in Basseterre ; 
but because I wanted to see as much of the Island 
as possible, and become familiar with prevailing 
conditions. There were about a dozen first-class 
passengers, including Mr. Eberhardt, the Ameri- 
can Consul at Large, the vice-consul, Mr. Floran- 
din, Mr. Moore of the British Cable Company, a 
priest and several nuns. 

I had not thought of attempting to sell any 
books on the boat, and was sitting conversing with 
Mr. Eberhardt and Mr. Moore; when a girl came 
up from the lower deck, hesitatingly approached, 
and holding out a Gospel of Luke, asked me if I 
was the gentleman who had sold it. I acknowl- 
edged having done so, thinking perhaps she wished 
to return the book and receive her money back, as 
superstitious people sometimes do when their re- 
ligious leaders tell them that the Bible is a per- 
nicious book, which will bring evil to the house- 
hold if they retain it. But no, she wanted to know 
if she could secure another. I opened my valise and 
sold her one. Then several of the first-class pas- 
sengers, seeing what I had, bought Bibles and 
Testaments, without waiting for me to offer them. 
The girl returned two or three times to buy Gos- 
pels. Finally I thought I had better go down my- 
self among the deck passengers. Very soon all of 



THE FEENCH ISLANDS 179 

the books that I had in my hand-bag were disposed 
of. * 

As there were more who wanted books, I went 
to the man in charge of the cargo and prevailed 
upon him to open the hold and let me get at my 
baggage. The hatchway was covered with the bag- 
gage of the deck passengers; but they gladly re- 
moved it that the hatch might be opened to let me 
bring up more Bibles. I brought up half a dozen 
Testaments and some more Bibles which were sold 
at once. The lunch gong then sounded and I went 
to eat. No sooner had I taken my seat at the table 
than a member of the crew came to ask if I could 
not get another Bible. No, he could not wait till 
we reached Pointe-a-Pitre, nor until lunch was 
over ; as it was wanted by a passenger who was get- 
ting off the boat at the next stop. So down I went 
into the hold again for more Bibles and Testa- 
ments, leaving the food untouched. 

What occupation could have been more delight- 
ful and what work more satisfactory than the 
putting of the Bible into the hands of those whose 
hearts were hungry for its message ? It was a joy 
to see the passengers, at every stop, as they left 
for the shore in the small boats, holding up a Bible 
or a Testament or both, in their hands, out of reach 
of the splashing of the water. Throughout the 
day, until we reached Pointe-a-Pitre, persons could 
be constantly seen reading the books they had just 
secured. 



180 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

Six o'clock the next morning found me in the 
market-place at Pointe-a-Pitre. Finding that I was 
too early, I made my way back to a wharf where 
I had seen some small boats unloading charcoal and 
other produce. Here I sold sixty books before 
going to breakfast at seven. After breakfast I 
went again to the market-place where the recep- 
tion accorded the books was the same as in the 
market at Basseterre. People crowded around me 
to buy and by ten o'clock I had sold the remain- 
ing six hundred Gospels together with some Bibles 
and Testaments. 

At this market a well-dressed woman of ap- 
parently more than ordinary intelligence asked if 
I had the whole Bible. I showed her one, but the 
print was too small to suit her. She wanted the 
largest and best to be had. I told her I had a large 
one at the hotel. She waited till I had sold out 
my Gospels, and went with me to the hotel where 
she purchased a large family Bible in French ; and 
went away seemingly much pleased with the acqui- 
sition. I could not help wondering who she might 
be. Had I missed the opportunity of getting ac- 
quainted with another family of believers in 
Guadeloupe ? 

A gentleman present volunteered the informa- 
tion that the woman was a professional sorceress, 
and probably wanted the Bible to use in her divina- 
tions. He also asked if I would have sold it to 
her if I had known her to be a sorceress. I replied 



0?ffiE FKENCH ISLANDS 181 

that I would have done so; for she could read 
well; and, although the book was not purchased 
with the right motive, the message might reach her 
heart. One of the most successful native evan- 
gelists in Haiti was converted by means of a Bible 
given him by a " mamalois" (sorceress) after she 
had retained it among her possessions for twenty 
years. The Bible contains the Word of God. 
Without it the people perish. With it, under the 
blessing of the Holy Spirit, fruit is brought forth, 
at times, from the most unlikely places. If the 
book is read, the Holy Spirit may be trusted to do 
the work. 

That afternoon I visited the stores and readily 
sold all of the remaining books; so that by night, 
Wednesday, having begun in Basseterre on Mon- 
day morning, every one of the eleven hundred 
books had been disposed of, and no opposition 
whatever encountered. On Thursday I returned 
to Basseterre to await the return from Martinique 
of the same boat on which I had come. 



XIII 
THE FRENCH ISLANDS (Concluded) 

I HAD planned remaining until the return of 
the boat the following month ; but three days' 
work had accomplished more in the way of 
Bible distribution than I had hoped to be able to 
accomplish in a month. It would be three days 
more before the boat was due on its return trip and 
I decided to give myself the pleasure of a mountain 
climb, by making the ascent of la Soufrriere, which 
towered so threateningly above the little island 
Capital. 

The first stage of the trip from Basseterre to 
the top of the volcano is by a stage-coach drawn 
by mules, over a well macadamized road, to a 
small village where one must pass the night, in 
order to get an early morning start. I had been 
told that there was no hotel; but that I could se- 
cure a room and meals at the convent. Arriving 
at the village towards evening, I knocked at the 
door of an unpretentious looking building which 
was said to be the convent and asked the servant 
who appeared if I could see the Mother Superior. 
Soon a French woman, well past middle age, came 
to welcome me, attired in the garb of her order. 

182 



THE FKENCH ISLANDS 183 

To her I said rather hesitatingly, as it seemed a 
strange question to ask a Roman nun: 

" I have been told that you put up travellers ? " 

" Yes," she replied. " We must do something 
for a living now that the Government no longer 
supports us." 

She herself showed me my room, and said that 
she hoped I would be comfortable and told me the 
hour of supper. Shortly after the nun left, an old 
French priest came in and introducing himself as 
Pere Duss, inquired where I was from. On learn- 
ing that I came originally from the Province of 
Quebec he said: 

" Then you are a Catholic? " 

" Not in your acceptance of the term," I replied. 

" Oh, that is all right. I believe that a good 
Protestant can be saved." 

Then he said that he had come in, thinking that 
I might like to take a walk around the village. 
He informed me that he was the author of a work 
on the botany of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and 
that he knew every plant in the vicinity. Father 
Duss was a most interesting man. We not only 
took this walk together, but several others during 
the days that I was waiting for my boat. He was 
just bubbling over with most interesting informa- 
tion regarding the plant life of the region. In few 
parts of the world is there to be found a greater 
abundance and variety of vegetation than on the 
sides of la Souffriere. Orchids abound. The limbs 



184 CEUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

of the great trees are loaded with epiphytes in 
almost endless variety. Long rope-like lianas 
reached from the limbs of the tallest trees to the 
ground. Every plant seemed to be an open book 
to Father Duss. I could listen to him by the hour 
as he told the most interesting peculiarities of each. 

After supper I made arrangements with the 
guide to call for me at four o'clock in the morning, 
in order that we might reach the top before the 
view should be obscured by the gathering clouds 
that at this time of the year hang over the moun- 
tain during the latter part of the day. 

The way up the mountain was over a trail, 
which led for the first part of the way beneath 
gigantic forest trees holding aloft their load of 
epiphytes, to receive the moisture of the higher 
air. As we proceeded in the ascent the trees be- 
came shorter and of a more scrubby nature, until 
the large trees gave way entirely to shrubs, grass 
and low lying plants bearing many flowers peculiar 
to the altitude. Here we found raspberries, dew- 
berries and a species of strawberry; the first that 
I had seen growing in the Tropics. Just before 
leaving the tree line we passed a stream of hot 
water issuing from the side of the mountain and 
rushing rapidly on its way down the slope, de- 
positing sulphur and other mineral contents on the 
rocks as it passed. 

A little later we reached a point where the over- 
hanging rocks of the outer edge of the crater were 



THE FEEKCH ISLANDS 185 

almost perpendicularly above and seemed likely, at 
any moment, to let go and fall, crushing us. We 
passed several places where such rocks had be- 
come loosened and dashed down the mountainside. 
My feelings at the time were somewhat like those 
which I used to imagine Bunyan's Christian to 
have felt when standing under the overhanging 
rocks of Sinai. The last stretch was accomplished 
by using all fours, hanging on to the bunches of 
grass and roots and digging in to the crevices of 
the rocks as we pulled our way almost perpen- 
dicularly up between two of the great boulders that 
appeared on the point of letting themselves go 
down the slopes beneath. 

The top reached, we found ourselves on a com- 
paratively level broken table of rock of consider- 
able extent where paths led between high boulders 
and apparently bottomless chasms. But alas for 
our hopes of getting a view of Guadeloupe and the 
surrounding islands, from this vantage point. 
Clouds already obscured the sky and everything 
below. There was a drizzling rain with a high 
wind, that made our short stay anything but pleas- 
ant. 

At several places there were fissures in the 
rocks from which strong jets of gas and steam 
were issuing with a noise like that of steam escap- 
ing from the safety valve of an enormous engine. 
Around one of these openings some previous vis- 
itors had piled a little heap of rocks, upon which 



186 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

surphur was being deposited by the escaping gases 
in the form of flowers of sulphur. Taking a piece 
of rock I broke off from the edges of the fissure 
a few pieces of sulphur, and collected a little of 
the floury powder to bring away as a souvenir. 
The inhabitants of Basseterre feel that as long as 
these safety valves, that we could see and hear dis- 
charging their gases from the different places in 
the summit, remain open there is no danger of an- 
other eruption. There is a feeling, however, that 
if these should become stopped up, Basseterre had 
better look out. 

The guide then took me to see the largest of the 
craters, an abyss whose perpendicular sides ex- 
tended beyond the reach of vision, loosing them- 
selves in unfathomable darkness. The crater of la 
Souffriere is not bowl-shaped like that of most 
volcanoes. Its sides are perpendicular to the very 
top. 

After waiting a short time in the vain hope that 
the clouds might disappear, so that we could get a 
glimpse of the country below, we began the de- 
scent. 

The return was comparatively easy, and in a 
short time we were at a spot called " Les Baines " 
(" the baths "). Here a hot stream coming out of 
the side of the mountain was retained by a cement 
dam forming a pool with baths of varying tem- 
perature. Soaked and tired as we were, the guide 
and myself plunged into the gratefully warm 



THE FEENCH ISLANDS 187 

water. It was wonderfully refreshing, and after 
a half hour or so spent in the water the sense of 
weariness and fatigue from the climb had com- 
pletely disappeared, and we returned to the convent 
feeling almost as fresh as when we had left in the 
morning. I was late for dinner; but the sisters 
had ordered the food kept warm for me. After I 
had dined, Father Duss came to take me for an- 
other walk. 

Mr. Duss had been, for forty-five years, a priest 
in Guadeloupe ministering to the Blacks in the 
ways prescribed by his Church. He struck me as 
being unhappy and lonesome because of lack of 
intellectual and spiritual companionship. He also 
had a feeling that he had not been treated rightly 
in the matter of his book, the result of a life study 
of the plant life of his field. I could not fail to 
sympathize with the good old gentleman, who was 
not well and had come to the village on the moun- 
tainside to see if he could not get the malaria which 
was troubling him out of his system. On our last 
walk together, he invited me to step into the little 
church with him to " salute the good God," as he 
expressed it. We entered and I waited while he 
devoutly went through his adoration of the image 
of the infant Christ. 

Before leaving, I told Father Duss of the mis- 
sion that had brought me to the Island. 

" You can never sell Bibles here," he said ; and 
he seemed much astonished to learn of my success.. 



188 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

He then plead with me to change my occupation, 
saying: 

" You are too good a man to be engaged in such' 
a work. The circulation of the Bible, especially 
in the very corrupt and apocopated form in which 
it is held by the Protestants, can do nothing but 
harm." 

He claimed that Christ had delegated to the 
Pope and the Bishops the right to interpret the 
Word ; that it was dangerous, exceedingly danger- 
ous, for individuals to attempt to read and follow 
its teachings, except under the guidance of the 
Holy Roman Catholic Church. He had a very ex- 
aggerated idea of the denominational divisions of 
Protestantism which he declared were the result 
of the pernicious doctrine of the right of private 
interpretation. Our discussion did not last long 
and was of the most friendly character. We could 
not proceed far together, however, as I could not 
accept the authority of the doctrines of Rome; nor 
he, the teachings of the Bible, except as explained 
by the Roman commentators. Even then he 
claimed not to have sufficient wisdom to under- 
stand its message. Said he: " God has given His 
Holy Spirit to the Pope and the Bishops so that 
they may understand and teach us. It is not for 
us to attempt to understand it." Of course, neither 
of us was convinced, though I am sure each gave 
the other plenty of food for thought. My heart 
went out to the old priest whose religion was one 



THE FRENCH ISLANDS 189 

of good works and who seemed to be missing the 
joys of service. 

After my return to San Juan we were able to 
send a French-speaking colporter from Porto Rico 
to make a more extended visit to Guadeloupe. He 
also visited the Island of Martinique. His efforts 
were attended with even greater success than mine 
had been. Seven thousand five hundred Scriptures 
were sold in the two islands during the year. 

There are certain similarities between the work 
in the French Islands and that in Haiti. The 
Patois spoken in both is much the same. I found 
that a few of the stock phrases I had used in sell- 
ing books in the latter were equally useful in 
Guadeloupe. In both places the bulk of the popu- 
lation is negro; but the negroes of the French 
Islands have been in constant contact with the 
white man and education is so general that nearly 
all are able to read. In both, the" negro is very 
superstitious; but the superstition of the French 
Islands does not carry with it the gross bestiality 
of that of Haiti. The sorcerer, or Papa-Diable of 
Guadeloupe is a very different person from the 
witch doctor of Haiti. The sorcerer of the French 
Islands impresses one as a knavish trickster while 
the Papalois of Haiti is a malevolent criminal. On 
the other hand, the French Islands have no such 
Protestant community working for the uplift of 
their fellows as has Haiti. Hitherto these islands 
with their nearly half million souls, the majority 



190 CRUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

of whom can read, have been untouched by the 
efforts of any Missionary Board. 

The report of my success and of the cordial re- 
ception of the Scriptures in the Island of Guade- 
loupe was received with much interest by the 
churches in Porto Rico. Shortly after my 
return I spoke in the Congregational Church in 
Fajardo, Porto Rico, of the work in Guadeloupe, 
and of our need of a French-speaking col- 
porter for these islands. About a year later, 
a young Swiss mechanic, who had heard me 
in Fajardo, offered himself for service. We sent, 
him to Guadeloupe. Everywhere he went he was 
told of a young man who had preceded him giving 
away tracts and preaching to small groups in pri- 
vate houses. At last the two met and finding that 
they were kindred spirits continued together in the 
work. 

A copy of the " Bible Record " containing an 
account of my visit to Guadeloupe fell into the 
hands of Mr. Paul Loiseaux, of Loiseaux Broth- 
ers, the New York publishers. Mr. Loiseaux is an 
earnest Christian man of French origin. He was 
so impressed that something ought to be done at 
once to take the Gospel to the French West Indies 
that he was seriously considering taking a trip to 
them himself, though he was well advanced in 
years. This, his friends strenuously opposed, 
thinking it would not be wise for a man of his age 
to undertake such a journey. Meanwhile, hearing 



THE FEENCH ISLANDS 191 

of a very enthusiastic young French convert in 
Canada, Mr. Loiseaux sent him a copy of this 
" Record." The young man was Mr. Louis Ger- 
main. 

Mr. Germain felt at once that the knowledge of 
the open door and of the need was a call to him to 
enter the one and help supply the other. He 
started immediately for New York to consult with 
Mr. Loiseaux and, soon after, took passage for 
Guadeloupe, taking with him a quantity of tracts 
and other Gospel literature. Mr. Germain went 
as an independent worker under the direction of no 
Mission Board but supported by a few friends of 
French origin who were interested in his work. 

It was interesting to note the leadings of the 
Spirit of God in this matter. He had used a repre- 
sentative of the American Bible Society to call a 
native of Switzerland from Porto Rico and a na- 
tive of France from Canada to enter Guadeloupe 
and help supply the spiritual need. These men 
met, became of one mind, and devoted their whole 
time to the circulation of the Bible and Christian 
literature in Guadeloupe and Martinique. 

Some time after the outbreak of the war in 1914, 
clerical influence caused these two workers to be 
expelled from the Islands on the trumped-up 
charge of being German sympathizers or spies. 
Mr. Germain being physically unfit could not enter 
the French army and Mr. Ruga being French 
Swiss was from the first sympathetic with the 



192 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

cause of the Allies. Owing to the troublous times, 
it seemed best for the time not to attempt to con- 
tinue the work after the expulsion of Messrs. Ger- 
main and Ruga ; nor to trouble the French Govern- 
ment to look into the matter of their unjust treat- 
ment. Nearly twenty thousand copies of the 
Scriptures had been sold during the four years of 
Bible Society activity there. A petition was sent to 
the American Bible Society at this time signed by 
more than fifty residents of Guadeloupe appealing 
through the Society to the various Mission Boards 
of America to establish a Protestant mission in the 
Island. Although the matter was put before the 
Foreign Mission Boards at the time none have, as 
yet, been able to respond and Martinique and Gua- 
deloupe are still without a Protestant missionary. 
Now that the war is over we have no longer any 
reasonable excuse for not responding to this appeal 
for help. 



XIV 
OBSERVATIONS 

CONSIDERING the extent of territory in 
the Western Hemisphere over which 
Spanish is spoken, we ought to be a bilin- 
gual people. At any rate, more of our young peo- 
ple, and older ones for that matter, might with 
profit take up the study of Spanish. As Spanish 
is spoken over a greater extent of territory in this 
hemisphere than is English, a knowledge of Span- 
ish more than doubles the possible field of oppor- 
tunity and usefulness. 

If our high school and college graduates, and 
teachers who have been taking Latin, would only 
begin to read Spanish, they would be surprised to 
find how quickly they would come to understand 
it. Then instead of losing their Latin, as most do, 
they would with a minimum of effort transfer, as 
it were, their knowledge of Latin to the living and 
useful language. 

To those who have not had Latin in their school 
courses let me say that Spanish is, perhaps, the 
most easy of the modern languages for the be- 
ginner. It is phonetic and when once the sounds 
of its twenty-six letters have been mastered, to- 

i93 



194 CBUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

gether with a few simple rules of accent, progress 
is assured. The real difficulties of the Spanish 
language come later. Spanish might be called an 
emotional language. It has an emphatic arrange- 
ment of words in the sentence. To put it roughly, 
the most important word is placed first, the word 
of second importance last, and the other words 
and modifying groups anywhere in between these, 
arranged according to their relative importance. 
As with English, the niceties of the language are 
only mastered by constant companionship with the 
best people and best books. A mastery of this 
emphatic arrangement is not necessary to an un- 
derstanding of the language or an appreciation of 
it ; nor to speak it in a way to make one's self under- 
stood. Having mastered the simple pronunciation 
and accent one can begin at once to use all that he 
learns. Later, gradually, as a result of association 
with the people and reading their literature, he will 
find himself thinking in Spanish in the Spanish 
way. 

It is worth while to take pains to get started 
right in Spanish pronunciation. Some of the let- 
ters are pronounced near enough like the English 
equivalents for many people to take it for granted 
that they are the same; hence they always retain 
a distinctly foreign pronunciation, which is unde- 
sirable and decidedly unnecessary. The " t " and 
" d " are pronounced by touching the tongue 
lightly to the ends of the teeth. The " b " is less 



OBSERVATIONS 195 

explosive than ours and the " v " is formed with 
the lips instead of with the lower lip and upper 
teeth as in English. Finally, but not least in im- 
portance, the vowels always have the same length, 
like the duration of a note in music. They may be 
stressed by accent, but they are not lengthened, 
and, above all, not shortened at the end of the 
word ; for instance, in the word " Gracias " 
(" thanks ") the last " a " should be pronounced as 
fully as the first, though the first receives the ac- 
cent. 

This is not a treatise on Spanish Grammar but if 
I can drop a word here that will help some pro- 
spective student to take pains in laying the foun- 
dations, it will be worth while. Where we for- 
eigners sin, perhaps, most frequently and most 
grievously in pronunciation of Spanish is in the 
shortening and slurring of the final syllables. 
Frequently one hears a foreigner, who has become 
thoroughly conversant with the language and 
actually fluent in it as far as readiness of vocab- 
ulary is concerned, spoil an otherwise good dis- 
course by the defects of which I have just spoken, 
when the correct habit could have been so easily 
acquired in the beginning. 

It is unfortunate that the West India Islands 
are not better known to the outside world. There 
seems to be a prevailing opinion that they are op- 
pressively hot and unhealthy and that navigation 
among them is very dangerous. This impression 



196 CKUSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

is entirely wrong. When I was leaving New York 
one July for Haiti, a friend remarked, "So you are 
going off down into that terrible heat again." " I 
am going to the West Indies to get cool/' I replied. 
The fact is, the heat is at no time as oppressive in 
any of the West India Islands as are the hot sum- 
mer days in some of our northern cities. Lying 
as they do in the path of the trade winds there 
is always a breeze stirring; and, although it may 
be hot in th& sun, it is comparatively cool in the 
shade. In the months when the trade winds are 
not blowing or in situations where they are not 
felt, the only uncomfortably warm periods of the 
day are in the morning while the wind is changing 
from a land to a sea breeze and in the evening 
while the process is being reversed. During the 
day, the land becoming heated by the rays of the 
sun sends up rising currents of air, and the place 
of the rising air is supplied by the cool air rushing 
in from the sea. During the night the movement 
of the air is towards the sea ; hence there is a con- 
stant circulation that prevents a condition of sultri- 
ness so common in our land during a hot wave. 

In Porto Rico and the Lesser Antilles the 
breezes are cool and refreshing; but cannot be 
called invigorating. There is very little seasonal 
change of temperature. The difference in the reg- 
istering of the thermometer from midday to mid- 
night of any day being greater than the difference 
between the winter and summer temperatures. 



OBSERVATIONS 197 

With Cuba, however, this is not the case. Cuba is 
a little more to the north and near enough to the 
Continent to be effected by its changes. Here the 
winter nights are at times quite cool, though never 
reaching the point where frost is formed. This 
gives the climate of Cuba a more invigorating 
quality than has that of the other islands. The 
greater part of Eastern Cuba consists of a table- 
land high enough above sea level to have an invig- 
orating atmosphere. 

In Haiti some of the coast towns are hot at cer- 
tain periods of the day. This Island has the ad- 
vantage, however, of being so mountainous that, 
at a slight expense, an altitude can be reached far 
enough above sea level to give the desired change, 
when needed. 

Yellow fever has not been epidemic in the West 
Indies since the Americans cleaned up Havana; 
and Havana is still kept clean. The authorities, 
keeping up a constant fight against the mosquito, 
have succeeded in maintaining the health of the 
city. Malaria is not very common and can gen- 
erally be avoided by avoiding exposure at night to 
the bites of mosquitos. 

Fleas and jiggers are a petty annoyance in cer- 
tain localities; but proper vigilance secures a cer- 
tain immunity even from these. The evenness of 
the temperature and the absence of sudden changes 
make the climate of the West Indies especially 
favorable for children and aged persons. After 



198 CMJSADIftG IN THE WESf INDIES 

our return with our children from Porto Rico to 
Brooklyn, we had more illness in the way of colds, 
tonsilitis, etc., in one year than we had had during 
the five years in the West Indies. 

In travelling one needs to be as careful as pos- 
sible not to expose one's self to tracoma and con- 
junctivitis, although so little care is taken by others 
that any attempt at self-protection seems at times 
utterly useless. In the summer of 1910, I came 
into Santiago de Cuba on the French boat Abd-el- 
Kadr. There were nearly two hundred passengers 
on board, Syrians, whom the authorities in Porto 
Rico had refused to allow to land. " Tracoma," I 
heard the doctor say. Part of these passengers 
disembarked at Santo Domingo. At Port-au- 
Prince, those whose eyes appeared to be in the 
worst stage were transferred to the large trans- 
Atlantic boat of the same line, supposedly to be 
returned to Europe. I have no evidence that they 
were not landed at some other port, either of Haiti 
or the Dominican Republic. I know that they 
hoped to be. The rest were taken to Santiago de 
Cuba, where all were allowed to land. 

Going to my hotel, I was especially careful, be- 
cause of what I had seen on the trip. I first dis- 
infected the wash basin with bicloride tablets and 
used my own towel and soap. Shortly after, the 
man who looked after the room came in. The 
wash basin was of a kind quite common in Cuba, 
placed in a stand having a tank at the back from 



OBSERVATIONS 199 

which the water is drawn for washing, and a pail 
underneath for catching the used water. The man 
took out the dirty water in the pail and then 
brought back a pail of supposedly clean water with 
which he filled the tank ; afterwards he set the same 
pail under the basin to catch the used water again. 

Unlike most tropical countries the greater part 
of the West Indies have no poisonous snakes. Be- 
ginning with Cuba none are to be found, I believe, 
till the Island of Martinique is reached. This 
Island is the home of the famous " fer-de-lance," 
one of the most venomous serpents to be found 
anywhere; but even in Martinique this reptile is 
reaching the point of extermination through the 
activities of the lively little mongoose, introduced 
from India. 

I was interested in learning that the rats and 
quail of the Island of St. Thomas had changed 
their habits of life since the introduction of the 
mongoose. This animal made war on the rats that 
formerly burrowed in the ground. The rats now 
live in the tops of the cocoanut trees, as the mon- 
goose cannot climb. The same is true, I was told, 
of the quail. The mongoose is very fond of the 
eggs of quail and other poultry. The quails of St. 
Thomas nest in the cocoanut trees out of reach of 
the mongoose. 

In some places scorpions and tarantulas as well 
as centipedes are to be found ; but one seldom hears 
of their biting or stinging anyone, and I have 



200 CRUSADXTO m THE WEST INDIES 

never known of a case proving fatal or even seri- 
ous. 

There are may interesting forms of animal life 
not to be found in the north, the most notable and 
abundant of which are the many varieties of land 
lizards, harmless all, and some of them very pretty, 
having the power of changing their color to cor- 
respond with their surroundings. These lizards 
range in size from the little singing gecko, three 
or four inches long, to be found in the houses of 
Havana to the edible iguana, which grows to a 
length of three feet or more. The smaller kinds 
feed upon insects, while some of the larger seem 
to be entirely vegetarian in their habits. The 
iguana is specially fond of the young and tender 
leaves of the mangrove trees. The smaller lizards 
may be caught in the hands with impunity. After 
capture they seem to enjoy having their throats 
rubbed with the finger; though possibly they re- 
main quiet from fear. My daughter, May, when 
paying us a visit in Porto Rico used to spend much 
time in the garden among the shrubbery coaxing 
the little fellows on to her hand after which she 
would bring them into the house to exhibit her 
conquests. 

Cuba possesses a firefly that I have not seen 
elsewhere. It is a beetle with two comparatively 
large brilliant lights, one on each side of the 
thorax, the steady penetrating rays of which can be 
seen from quite a distance, shining brightly as a 



OBSERVATIONS 201 

diamond through the darkness of the night. Boys 
catch them, tie threads around them and pin them 
to their coat lapels; and young ladies for amuse- 
ment sometimes put them in their hair, from which 
places they continue to send forth their penetrat- 
ing rays. 

In Porto Rico the nights are rendered noisy, if 
not musical, by the shrill whistle of a small frog 
called from its cry the " coqui." These little ani- 
mals are peculiar in that the eggs do not hatch into 
tadpoles; but into tiny, active, sprightly frogs 
ready to get their own living as such from the day 
they come out of the egg. If they go through the 
tadpole stage it is within the skin of the egg before 
they are hatched. I was able to verify this fact 
myself, securing some eggs that had been deposited 
on a large damp leaf and were just in the process 
of hatching. 

The West India Islands are near at hand, con- 
venient to reach, have a healthy climate with no 
serious pests or drawbacks, and are interesting in 
a thousand ways. Our commerce is mutually con- 
venient and necessary. They need our help. It is 
certainly incumbent upon us to make every effort 
to take to them the privileges which we ourselves 
enjoy. 

Some time ago a series of articles appeared in 
one of our magazines professedly written by a man 
of means who had offered himself to the Church 
for service and who was disappointed to find that 



202 CBtJSADING IN THE WEST INDIES 

he could not be used. I would like to suggest to 
such a person that he devote himself to helping 
supply Latin America with evangelical, as well as 
other, helpful and uplifting literature. 

If the reader has enjoyed our tour through the 
West Indies as much as the writer, we shall both 
look forward with pleasurable anticipation to a 
longer trip that shall take us, not only farther 
afield but to other countries in Latin America, 
vaster in extent ; more indigenous in their popula- 
tion; more complex in the problems presented; 
greater and more magnificent in their physical fea- 
tures ; more prodigal in natural resources and with 
a much greater variety of interesting customs. 
All, however, are just as needy of our help, have 
much to give us in return, and are just as acces- 
sible, presenting even wider open doors of oppor- 
tunity for Christian service than the beautiful 
islands we have just been considering. God will- 
ing, we shall meet again in our fascinating work 
of carrying the Bible to those other neighbors of 
ours. 



Ur 



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